Bloody Evolution
by dudebladeX
Summary: The world is in danger. The powers that are in charge are corrupt. It's time for change... It's time for war. This war shall be savage. It will be bloody. It will shed a new skin. It will be a new solution. It's time... For a world of Bloody Evolution. Rated M for gore, death, language, etc.
1. The thorns of a flower

_Let us tell the tale of a girl, clad in a red hood. Perhaps you know of the story. Let us tell the tale of a different red-clad girl. For those that are the faint of heart, you may wish to put your story down, the grimm tale of the girl born from light, and taken in by the shadows._

* * *

 _Pant pant._

Ruby couldn't keep running for much longer. Her mother had died right in front of her eyes, and her sister had run off after her father. Grimm were on the tail of her cloak. She _hated_ the grimm from when she first learned about them. And now, she had another reason to despise them, they had _killed_ her _mother_.

Beowolves. They were big, they were vicious, and they were savage. They were only focused on one thing: Killing the girl they were chasing. She had no weapon, no proper aura training, she had only recently unlocked her semblance.

More specifically, she unlocked it a few minutes ago, feeling the need to run for her life, but her mourning for her mother seemed to resonate with her as well, she deduced that that was the reason for the rose petals trailing behind her. If it weren't for those petals, she would've been able to escape by now.

Now she hated her semblance as well.

She couldn't see straight, she was hungry, and she could feel her aura running low…

She looked over her shoulder.

 _Great..._

The beowolf had called his… her… its friends. They had enough… Grimmpower to take on a small team of hunters, well, trainees anyways, an experienced hunter could easily dispatch of them in an instant.

'I need to keep moving…' the young girl thought, 'If I can get to a city or town or something…'

 _Thwack!_

"Ugh ...Where… Where did that tree branch come from?"

Her world went black. Her last image was a beowolf closing in. She also thought she heard another voice...

* * *

"What the…?" The red-cloaked girl asked. "Where am I?" She held her head, "Ugh, my head hurts." She looked up and found herself in a strange building. She saw grimm blood everywhere, crates full of dust, as well as bits and pieces of some old machines and weapons.

Possibly a warehouse.

"Ah, you're awake. Finally." Ruby turned her head towards a young looking woman. The first thing she noticed was that she had amber eyes. The second thing she noticed was that her dress seemed to glow with dust. "So Ruby, what do you want to eat?"

"I...I don't know…" She stammered a bit, trying to keep the memories of her family's demise out.

"So Ruby, why were you out in the woods? Where was the rest of your family?" Cinder noticed that Ruby winced at the final word and was staying silent tears formed in her eyes. Odd, that usually only happens when _oh_ …

"I'm so sorry, Ruby." The girl sniffled a bit. "If it'll help, I can be here for you." Cinder walked over to the girl, who now had small tears in her eyes, and gave her a comforting embrace. She noticed Ruby's eyes briefly glowing a much darker shade of grey, almost as if it had turned black for a moment, but she paid it no heed. Both now had a second family after having their first one forcibly ripped from them.

* * *

 _Much much later…_

Her Glaive had grown rather dull. the fact that it doubled as a sniper rifle probably had something to do with it. Considering her usual method of killing, it made sense that she would also modify Rending Thorn to also act as an assault rifle if necessary. She had long forgone her old cloak in favor of turning it into a vest to hold her goods.

She had worked for Cinder for who knows how long, killing whomever she wished. She was one of the few people to join her willingly, as both wished for revenge upon the self-proclaimed 'heroes' of the world. Ruby, for despising how they didn't save her family and let them die; and Cinder, for their talk about 'peace' and 'prosperity' when it was the hunters who ransacked her village when she was only a child. Ruby had almost considered Cinder to be a mother figure of sorts, and even got her last name legally changed to 'Fall' on her seventh birthday.

Today, she was on assignment. An unknown client had ordered the death of a certain person, and she was going to make due on that. Growing up despising hunters gave Ruby a new outlook on life. She was a sadist, and she was proud of the fact.

* * *

When Ruby was a few days off of turning six, she had discovered that, by using a magnifying glass, she could burn ants. She liked to pretend that the ants were hunters and huntresses. Cinder had noticed, and gave her a small pocket knife that the girl used to hunt for food.

* * *

Her target was some moronic up and coming politician who had decided it would be a smart idea to put anyone who lived outside the border on constant surveillance. Unfortunately, for the candidate, Ruby lived in a small warehouse nearby the local forest that was just outside the forest alongside her family. She clutched her locket that held a photo of her and Cinder.

* * *

Ruby was just a few months older when she was staring down a mercenary. The merc was an old foe of Cinder's. She was so scared. When Cinder came in, shooting an arrow into the man's eye, and subsequently detonated it, Ruby had called her Queen for the first time and gave her a loving embrace.

Cinder would never admit it, but she had cried tears of sadness when Ruby called her 'Queen'. She had even gotten close to Ruby, and was originally planning to have her as her apprentice, but constantly training together had having meals together put a dent in that plan.

Cinder had wanted a daughter to hug, and have hug back. Instead, she got a sadistic girl who only saw her as a superior, and not as family.

* * *

She found the man in her sights. The night vision she placed on the scope of her sniper. Her target was reported to always wield a strange sword, and have a preference for young girls. She thought of a young blonde girl for some reason. Ruby shook her head, she had a job to do.

* * *

Ruby's nightmares diminished after being adopted, or rather, having the legal proof of adoption. Her nightmares usually involved a woman in a white cloak being killed by the cross fire between some grimm and a hunter's gun blast, a blonde man being torn apart by an ursa, and a blonde girl being impaled by a beowolf.

* * *

Ruby finally got the man in her sights. Her target was talking to someone in the shadows, and was accompanied by three other people. Odd, he was talking to a young girl- 'Oh my goodness!' She thought. The man and two of his… What she assumed to be friends just got killed by the girl. 'She might make a decent ally…'

* * *

Ruby's Queen had gotten some other recruits as well. Some thief with green hair named Emerald, some son of a mercenary named Mercury, a criminal that she would describe as a 'douchebag' named Roman Torchwick, and his little ice cream colored 'assistant' named Neo.

She enjoyed Emerald's company. Considering the both of them were rescued by Cinder, they bonded rather well. Though Emerald was put off by Ruby's insistence to calling Cinder 'Queen'. Emerald had seen Cinder wincing every time she was called 'Queen' by Ruby. She nearly got burned for asking why.

Mercury was tolerable. Ruby enjoyed tinkering with his legs. Added a feature to make it appear as if it were broken so as to trick opponents into letting their guard down, miniature machine gun turrets in the knee area, magnetic soles to cling to surfaces, and on the top of both feet, she engraved the word 'Queen' on them in red and gold. Mercury had opted to get boots that doubled as what appeared to be shotguns to hide them.

Roman was a different story. Ruby disliked how he endlessly flirted with Cinder and showed general apathy towards her Queen. His attitude was grating to her. Ruby never understood why her Queen wanted him in the first place, but she understood that he was wanted. But Ruby vowed to kill him immediately if her Queen asked for it.

The ice cream girl, whose name she learned from the idiot in the bowler hat, was much more interesting. Not much of a talker, but that's what Ruby appreciated about Neopolitan. Ruby could never understand why she was even loyal to Roman in the first place. Not that Neo would reveal why anyways.

Ruby had adopted all of them as her family. Emerald and Mercury as her siblings, Roman as some uncle, and identifying Neo as her cousin. But she still never saw Cinder as her mother.

* * *

Ruby retreated. While she wasn't happy about not being the one to take down her target, she was satisfied that the man was finally dead. He had caused too much trouble for her Queen, and she was all too glad to finally have a chance to eliminate this target.

Not that she could get the satisfaction. She would have enjoyed taking him to the _Room_. The _Room_ was a place where Ruby conducted her torture. It was there that she had discovered that the average adult human body held about one and a fifth gallons of blood, the human skull could only withstand five hundred twenty pounds before shattering, and that the body can last only twenty five minutes without oxygen.

* * *

 _Years earlier..._

Ruby was in the _Room_. She was 'interrogating' a merc that was hired out to kill her Queen. The woman had disappointedly lasted only twenty minutes before cracking. She wanted to break her record of seven hours.

Nevertheless, Ruby had eliminated the person who had hired her victim. Shame that that man was the former headmaster at Beacon academy. Now some asshole named Ozpin was going to take over.

* * *

"My Queen," Ruby bowed before Cinder, "The target has been eliminated"

Cinder winced at the fact that Ruby didn't see her as family, only as a superior. She had long gotten over the depression of not having her chance at a second family, but that still didn't make the hurt less worse. "I see…" She started, "I'm surprised, my gem, I thought you would have wanted to, ahem, 'interrogate' him for some additional information."

"Unfortunately, my Queen," Ruby said, trying not to disappoint her Queen, "I was not the one who eliminated him." Cinder raised an eyebrow, "It was the faunus girl he was trying to have his way with."

"I see." Cinder continued, "Well, we have some plans for the future." Ruby looked up, rather slowly so as to not anger her Queen, not that it has ever happened before, "Our operation requires that we get some information in the Cross Continental Transit system." Ruby raised an eyebrow, "I'll be needing you to infiltrate Beacon academy."

 _ **To be continued...**_

* * *

 **AN: So… I'm a RWBY fan apparently. So, yeah. Typical Ruby on the dark side of things type of AU. Oh, and I didn't pull those calculations out of my ass or anything, I actually looked them up. I like doing things for the art.**

 **And I figured that if their stories are different, so would their weapons. So try to bare with me on altered weaponry. The glaive works similarly to Crescent Rose, only that, when in assault rifle mode, the blade is on the end, allowing for a mix of melee and long range combat. If you want a visual image, imagine the MA5B from** _ **Halo**_ **, just with a blade of sorts on the end. It can also become a greatsword. And the target? - Think a guy who raped his best friend's girlfriend in the pool of his allies' blood, and aforementioned best friend cut off his arm and got his eye gouged out…**

 **I'm talking about Griffith from** _ **Berserk**_ **. Pre-Eclipse, of course.**

 **So… uh fun facts, fun facts… Hmm, oh, uh well, the original plan was to have her be a common thief who ran into Cinder, I decided to scrap that, and make her into Cinder's assassin, rather similar to Neo for Roman if you want a comparison. Ruby was five when she encountered Cinder in this AU, so that means Yang would have to have been seven when her chapter starts.**

 **Disclaimer: I own nothing, this is a fan-made story, please support the official source.**


	2. The sting of winter

_This tale is not for the faint of heart. For it is the story of a princess trapped in a castle, never to be let out of her room. Tainted by loneliness to the point she made companions with the ones who are no longer among the living. Her name, was Weiss Schnee._

* * *

' _Why… Why am I not allowed to leave?'_

Weiss Schnee was trapped in her room in the Schnee manor, the only things around her were her books, her bed, there was a small lamp on the nightstand nearby the bed, a television set with a game console, some training equipment, and an old dust experiment kit on a nearby desk.

' _Why can't I leave, daddy?'_

He never answered the question. He would always just look to a small framed photo. He would never let her see him cry. He would always get a servant to escort her to her room. One day, she found they locked her in. Her father had used his workers to make it so she could still get food by a small pulley system they had installed.

' _Dad, what's the outside like?'_

He would only say that it was dangerous, and that it wasn't a place for a precious snowflake like her. He would always talk about the darkness of the world; The grimm, the White Fang extremists, the various thugs, and the crime organizations that plagued the world.

' _What..? T-that can't be all!'_

She would always read about the hunters and huntresses, and how they would save people. How they kept people safe. She wanted to be a huntress, she wanted to purge the world of the darkness that had taken it. When her father found out, he had not said a word about the matter.

' _Dad… What happened to all my books on those heroes?'_

He had taken them. He refused to let her get any ideas. Yes, she would train, but it was all on how to run away from a fight, never on how to fight back. Despite her pleas, he would not let up. She turned to her dust kit… Perhaps she could _make_ a weapon to fight back with. Her first attempt involved mixing various types of dust to create a small explosive vial to push back foes.

' _I… I can defend myself father! can I please see the outside? I want to know what it feels like to run barefoot on the grass!'_

He had confiscated her vials of explosive dust. But Weiss was smart. She hid them in a little nook in her room. Her father had only gotten two vials. She still had the formula, and dozens of other vials in her hiding place. It was odd, she hadn't noticed the nook before, but when she thought of telling her father, she instinctively hid some in the nook. She had also found a note.

 _Don't trust father. Don't trust him._ _ **Never**_ _trust him._

Weiss hadn't known why the note said that. Father might be strict, but he was only protective… Right? She had never even seen her mother, maybe he wanted to make sure that history wouldn't repeat itself. The signature at the end of the note was greatly smudged, it was nearly impossible to make it out. Nearly. It took some time, but she could just make out the name: Winter Schnee.

' _Father… Who is Winter?'_

He had demanded to know how she knew that name. She replied that a servant mentioned it in passing. He had demanded which servant. Weiss had replied with the name of a butler that had 'accidentally' dropped her meal once. She was about to speak the truth, but the voice had told her not to. She didn't know why she did it, but she instinctively agreed for some reason. The voice was odd however.

 _But the voice in her head was trustworthy enough._

She had asked the voice what its name was… is. The voice only replied that it was female though, but Weiss found it easier to be able to refer to her as well, 'her'. It was nice to have someone to talk to, apparently, she also knew some stories that Weiss found rather enjoyable. She would always hear stories when she was in bed. Weiss' father found it rather odd that when his daughter was asleep, she had a smile on her face.

' _Really? Father's real name is THAT?'_

Weiss had been suggesting names for her, such as 'ghosty' or 'spectra', but they kept getting shot down. She wanted to have a name for the voice, after all, Weiss loved her. She kept her company, was always there to help with her work, always there to comfort her, always there just to be there. She was like the big sister Weiss never had.

' _C-can I call you sister?'_

Weiss had been hesitant to ask this. Whenever she would inquire about her family, the voice would usually leave. When she did, Weiss always felt cold. As if a blizzard had entered her room. But, when the voice was with her, it was a calming coolness, as if her aura had absorbed the heat from the area. It made her feel cozy.

' _...Yes. Yes you can… Sister.'_

Weiss was happy. She hadn't had a sister in her life. But the voice was soothing. She was calming. Most importantly, she told Weiss her true name: Winter. Weiss was considerably happy for a long time. But, she had yet to find the cause of death of her beloved sister. But Winter had cryptically said it was a gray area of her life. Weiss didn't care though, she was happy to have her sister with her.

' _Soon old man. Soon I will have my vengeance. And now, I have my piece to help me get it. You will feel the icy hand of_ death.'

* * *

Mr Schnee was furious. His daughter was getting ideas of going out and stopping corruption. He didn't want to lose her to the outside world, and bring down his company by exposing their atrocities. He hadn't hired out that Griff man to take care of Winter for nothing.

 _Father… Why?_

Those words echoed in his mind. He had simply wished for Winter to stay at home, where she wouldn't get into trouble. Griff was _supposed_ to scare her into abandoning her huntress dreams, not kill her. Well, he knows how THAT turned out.

 _Perhaps it is time to-_

The CEO turned his head to the television. Odd, he hadn't turned it on, had he? The notorious criminal known as Griff Hagel, has been killed… Shame, he had so much more planned for him and his… Skill.

 _Now… What to do about the little rebel?_

Weiss' constant requests and puppy dog eyes had finally granted her some more freedom. She had finally been granted full access to the rest of the northern wing. And she took full advantage of it. The girl ran around, and kept hiding around, and looking for some imaginary friend she had made up.

 _Aha! I found you!_

Weiss had 'found' this imaginary friend of hers. She had been giggling on the floor.

 _Stop it! Stop it! Winter please!_

* * *

 _Weeks later…_

 _So… This is how I go…_

He was staring down his daughter. Her battleaxes were at his neck.

 _Winter, I'm sorr-_

* * *

 _What are your plans for the future?_

The reporters asked this question repeatedly, along with 'how did he die?' Her father's death had been reported just days after he had allowed people into the castle.

It was all too easy to pin it on a mercenary. Not that anyone would believe the true cause of death: The man's own daughters. One back from the grave, the other a trapped princess tired of taking orders. Anytime Weiss' would shift her head over to Winter, everyone had assumed that was Weiss' way of coping; Speaking to hallucinations.

She now had full control of the company, or at least, she will have it. She had an aura, she needed to attend a school to properly use it, and her weapon. She would become a hero to further boost the name of the SDC.

In truth, she would use the skills to end the hunters who had torn apart her family. Winter died because she wanted to be a huntress, Mother was dead because of a hunter, and father was dead because he saw them as the heroes that would keep his company as the top dog in the dust buisness.

But to get these skills she would need to attend a school. She had to become a huntress to destroy them from the inside. She had to attend a hunter's academy. She was partaking in the revolution.

Father always disliked Vale… And Vale held Beacon academy.

"Beacon. I'll study at Beacon"

 _ **To be continued...**_

* * *

 **A/N: So, yeah. Winter is dead in this story, and only talks to Weiss. And if you're smart (Or used google translate like I did,) you probably know who Winter was killed by. Oh, and yes, Weiss can use Winter to cheat at cards.**

 **Weiss got a slightly better childhood, and all she lost was her older sister! - Yeah, that sounded better in my head. So… Weiss' new weapons are hatchets, they act as revolvers, think Erron Black's weapons from** _ **Mortal Kombat**_ **. They can imbed the blades with different dust types for different effects, ie. Red (Fire) makes a nasty burn on the area that got cut, Green (Wind) is essentially air slash, and White (Ice) causes the blade to coat itself in a cold aura that weakens certain materials. Let's call them… Staubblatt. Which is German for 'Dust blade'.**

 **Fun facts, Weiss' new weapon went through multiple changes, from a bo staff that could shoot out different dust effects, to hook swords that turned into submachine guns. Winter as a ghost was something I wanted to do from the start.**

 **Disclaimer: This is a fanfiction, I own nothing but the computer I'm typing this on.**


	3. The claws of the cat

_This is the tale of a young girl. One who had went from rags to riches. One who built an empire on top of a beast. She hides in the shadows and prowls the night, looking for her foes and all who would oppose her. They would be promptly punished, leaving only the markings of her empire:The Ten Kit Empire._

* * *

'The darkness was safe. The darkness was safe. The darkness is safe.'

Those were the words repeated in one Blake Belladonna. She always kept to the shadows, only came out at night, and always hated the prejudice she received for being a faunus, and by extension, she hated the humans that inflicted the pain she received daily. Sure, not all humans were bad, but she had yet to see any who were actually good.

"Hey there, little girl. You lost?" She turned around to see four grown men standing before her. All were reeking of alcohol and three of them had beer bottles in their hands, The last one had a crowbar… Figures.

Blake was far from frightened. In fact, she found it rather humorous that these four thought they could take her on in a fight. She'd seen it plenty of times before: Some drunken morons would think she's some helpless kid in need of some 'loving care', then use brute force if necessary.

"No thanks. I can get home on my own." Blake was lying, of course, as a minor, she wasn't allowed a home of her own, and as an orphan, she was forced into an orphanage. Not that it mattered, she was constantly teased and had her ears pulled despite the caretaker's insistence.

She eventually got a bow to hide her ears but the damage was already done. She was apathetic to the world, its inhabitants, and its problems. The world, and by extension the man with a crowbar, responded similarly, "Sorry, little lady. But we can't let you walk home by yourself. You could get hurt." It took Blake a moment to figure out what the man was slurring, and another moment to get the stench of cheap beer out of her face.

He had forcibly grabbed at her arm but ended up grabbing at her bow- and by extension, her ears.

She screeched in pain as her ears were pulled, and her bow was yanked off. Her aura flared. She channeled that aura into her bracelet, causing it to morph.

"Hey, look boys. A faunus! How's about we hurry this up girly? Y' should know how this works by now, huh?" The man looked confidant.

 _Drip. Drip._

"What in the hell…" The man looked down. A blade about a foot long was imbedded in his stomach. He looked up to see the girl's face. She grunted. "... No… Please…"

A gruesome shot later, and an arrow went right through his spine and into another member's eye. Blake guessed he was left-handed, considering he was flailing his bottle around. The man was just dumb and unlucky enough to end up slashing the throat of a man who had a handlebar mustache.

"You want some too?" She leered towards the last man standing. The man was apparently reasonable or sober enough to stand down and put his hands over his head. She calmly went over to the dead bodies and started to fish around in their pockets for some lien. "If you want to live, you could help me out here." The man flinched at the bluntness, but it took him a moment to realize she was offering him leniency. He started rummaging through his… _Former_ associate's pockets and found some lien and gave it to the girl. She counted some and pocketed a good majority of it. She tossed the rest to the remaining man.

"Wha… Why?"

Blake turned and had a dark grin on her face. "You had enough sense to stand down. And don't think I'm doing it because you're a nice guy, _Junior_." The remaining man's eyes shot open in shock. It was enough to snap him out of his drunken stupor and make him increasingly worried.

"H...How did you…" He started.

"Call it intuition, call it luck, call it common knowledge." She shot. "But, tell you what: You can live," Junior looked at her suspiciously, "But I get to take charge of your criminal organization. You're the front, I'm the real head." Hei nodded, desperate to keep his life.

* * *

 _A couple Months later…_

Blake was in her penthouse, enjoying life, and watching the news to keep an eye on the competition.

"In recent news, the notorious assassin, 'Red Death'' has eluded capture yet again. Police are requesting that anyone who sees the criminal to report it to them immediately. They are offering a cash reward to whomever can give them any information as to her whereabouts."

Tch, they weren't concerned that she was killing, they were concerned that she was killing the corrupt and powerful. The girl wouldn't have killed that man if the rich bastard hadn't been trying to force himself on a helpless child.

Considering the corporations took the money back from the orphanages, Blake had no reason to help the police with their vendetta.

Well, that, and the fact that the little thief had helped out one of her associates at one point.

"In other news, the new Beacon headmaster has finally been appointed, when interviewed, the newly appointed headmaster had this to say:"

"I hope that with this position, we can get more people to help us help others. That's what hunters do. They help people."

Yeah, right. Where were the hunters when the faunus were being assaulted? Oh, yeah. They were part of the attackers. Blake had used her connections to give her old associates in the White Fang the lien to keep funding their operations. It also helped that Adam Taurus, the current leader, was one of her friends at the abandoned building that she ran away to in her youth.

"Breaking news!" This might be interesting. "Grau Schnee has finally allowed guests to enter his estate and meet the new heiress to the company. Reporters are gathering outside to finally meet the girl that had been cooped up for so long, and hear what her plans are for her future."

Nope. Blake turned off the television, and got up to her drink of water. She had ordered swordfish about an hour ago, when was it going to -

 _Knock knock._

Oh, here it is. She opened the door and found a rather tired looking girl there with the dinner cart. "We apologize for the delay, we don't usually get orders for the swordfish." Blake noticed that the girl had a strange object wrapped around her waist.

"Nice belt." She commented.

"Oh, uh thanks." The girl said nervously. So she IS hiding something.

"Tell me, where'd you get it?" Blake was pretty positive as to what it was, but the more recruits she could get into her empire, the better.

"Oh, uh… I-it was a gift! Yeah… Sorry about that ma'am." She said with a nervous smile on her face.

"Shame. May I feel it?" Blake asked.

"Uhh…"

"Thanks." Blake had stroked the 'belt' and noticed the girl starting to panic. "I know you're a faunus, by the way." The girl's tail straightened out in panic, "How is the pay for you here?"

The girl was startled, "Uh, I only get about 70% of what my human coworkers get…" She replied dejectedly.

"Shame. But if you work for me, you can be the one who stays in this room. What do you say?" Blake offered.

The girl could get a better job! She nodded furiously.

"Good to know."

* * *

"Blake, we have intel that vale's communication tower holds the files on all hunters and huntresses. We need that information for the revolution." Blake was on her scroll, getting a call from an old friend of hers. She was calmly eating her swordfish.

"Understood, Adam. Any word from our… Associates?" Adam was in a nearby forest, and by the looks of it, some hunters had been through it.

"None, unfortunately. After the death of the previous headmaster, they stepped up security on communications. Now it's required to go through an operator to transfer over to an outside kingdom."

'Damn!' she thought. 'Now our plans will take several times as long to complete!'

"Very well. Get that Neo person, if I'm to infiltrate vale, I'll need fake credentials to get in." She answered with all the composure she could muster.

"About that, we couldn't get you a job there." He said nervously, scratching the back of his head.

"So how are you getting me to Vale?" The cat faunus asked cautiously.

* * *

 _Months later..._

"Alright, kid," Blake started, "You take care of my little empire, I have some undercover work to do." Her new apprentice looked at her, worried that her new boss would be gone for a while. She had gained enough knowledge to run the Ten Kit Empire, but she always felt more comfortable around Blake.

"Where are you going ma'am?" she asked.

Blake's eyes darkened. "A hunter school. In Vale…"

 _ **To be continued...**_

* * *

 **A/N. So… Blake is the head of a criminal empire. Her weapon of choice is a pata sword that functions as a crossbow for the standard bolts, and a longbow for the dust shots. Think Nebula Violette's crossbow, but attached to a gauntlet-like armor piece. Her alias in the criminal world is Fortuna Nero, which is Italian for 'black luck'. Y'know, cause she's a cat. A black cat, ah, nevermind. It can also become a razor whip, ala a cat-o-nine tails, It extends to about ten feet in length.**

 **And would it kill you to leave some reviews or something? I could use some feedback here.**

 **Fun facts, So I saw a few stories where Blake never left the White Fang, and I decided to put a spin on it.**

 **Before you ask, no. This isn't going to be a 'Ladybug' story. Not only do I prefer 'Bumblebee/BY', but I have no plans for romance to be in this story. Sorry, but maybe it'll come up later.**

 **Disclaimer: Unless I get a job at RT, I own nothing, and even if I did, it would be owned by my boss, not me.**


	4. Intermission

One year ago, a great man was taken from us all. I may have not have known about his work until late October of 2015, but he was a good man.

Farewell, Monty Oum. You were an inspiration to us all.

We will keep moving forward. Thank you for inspiring us, and teaching us to do the best we can.

* * *

 **AN: Goddammit, I miss the guy… But I hear that you're not really gone as long as someone remembers you. Let's all do our best now, shall we?**


	5. The blaze of fire

_Let us listen to the tale of a wielder of flames has been trapped in the darkness for but a brief period, but it was in that period that she realized the futility and cons of light. The light may shine towards hope, but you do not know if it is hope or despair until it is too late. The light had yet to shine on her, and when it did, it led to despair. The fire burned hot, and she burned with it. She cursed and cursed. Until her fire, became hellfire._

* * *

A young blonde figure had chased after her father to try and get him back. Ruby needed help to get away from the beowolves. Yang Xiao Long had been running for what felt like hours. She was getting exhausted, and she couldn't keep running for long. "Dad! Dad! Ruby's in trouble!"

She was responded in kind by a large ursa.

"D-DAD! help!" She cried out. She started running. She kept pushing herself to her limit. determined to see her family again.

 _Pant Pant._

After a solid ten minutes, Yang had finally outmaneuvered the ursa, and was making her way back to her home. She had spent eight of those minutes getting away, and it took her two minutes to get back home.

Or at least what was remaining of it. In the wreckage around the place that she grew up in were shredded family photos, a pile of wood that could barely be identified as the remains of a bed, and…

"No…" Yang was staring directly into the eyes of her dead father. Taiyang was dead. Impaled by a death stalker tail, and pinned down by nevermore feathers in three different places. In his hand was a letter.

Yang opened the letter.

 _Yang,_

 _You probably don't know me, and after you read this, you may not wish to know me. My name is Raven Branwen, I am your biological mother. I had to leave to keep the world safe. I entrusted Summer to keep you safe and happy. You and your sister are blessed to have Summer to raise you. I know you might hate me for leaving you, and I can't blame you. I just want you to know that I love you, and that I hope that you'll be the hero that Remnant deserves._

 _Forever loving you,_

 _Your mother, Raven._

Yang couldn't believe it. After all these years, she chose this as her means of communication? A fucking letter?

She felt some rage boil up inside her. She wasn't there to keep her and Ruby safe, so she sent Qrow. And now, she didn't send anyone to keep Summer safe. It wasn't fair!

She had lost everything. Her first mother had left. Her step-mother had died a while ago. And now, her father was dead. She had even lost her little sister.

Yang heard some rustling behind her, "Rubes, is that you?" she asked, cautiously. An ursa jumped out to give her the answer. Yang realized she was about to lose a lot more when she identified the ursa as the same one that had been chasing her. She frantically looked around, trying to find a weapon or hiding spot to use. She found only a small box. one that had her name on it. She rolled towards it and tore it open. Inside were two golden bracelets, and a note,

 _Yang, these bracelets can turn into gauntlets. They're your weapon, I think an old friend of mine said a good name would be 'Ember Celica', but it's really up to you. Happy birthday kiddo,_

 _Qrow._

Yang felt a sliver of hope. She could defend herself now. She got Ember Celica on and channeled her aura into them. They started morphing into powerful gauntlets with chambers she identified as being similar to a shotgun. She tried to fire a shot.

Nothing happened. 'Shit! I don't have any ammunition!' She resorted to plan B: Punch it.

A flurry of blows were thrown at her target. Much to Yang's surprise, the beast went down.

"Holy shit! I did I it!" Yang was surprised at the damage she dished out. She looked back at the dead body of her father. A frown appeared on her face.

"Sorry, dad. I know you didn't like it when we swor- RUBY! I gotta find her! Sorry dad! I'll be back soon… Or maybe not…" She said the last part rather sadly, noting that Ruby probably wouldn't want to see the body.

She set out to find her little sister.

"RUBY! RUBY! WHERE ARE YOU- RUBY!"

Yang had found her baby sister, in a clearing. Knocked out nearby a tree, with a pack of six beowolves converging in on her. "NO!" The beowolves turned to see the blonde, their red eyes preparing for battle.

The two beowolves in the front charged first, being knocked back by the Ember Celica. The next one tried flanking her while the fourth charged at her head on. Yang managed to dodge the one flanking her, but suffered a large depletion of aura from the charging one.

"Y… YOU THINK YOU'LL BEAT _ME_?" she taunted, hair now igniting. She was taking several blows, and trying to land several as well.

She barely managed to dodge the fifth one's assault. " **I...** "

" **WILL…** " She landed a blow on one of the returning ones that had charged.

Yang dove in front of Ruby, taking a hit clearly meant for her sister. " **MAKE...** "

Yang took a blow that knocked her into some tree branches.

She got up to continue her punishment. " **YOU...** "

The fiery blonde tore out a branch that had lodged itself in her thigh, and started to wield it as a club. " **ALL...** "

She hadn't been paying attention, as she was engaged in combat with the final one, the sixth had been prowling behind her. " **BURN!** "

Yang was exhausted. She had burned up all her aura. But that didn't matter because Ruby was safe. She collapsed on her knees, and picked up her sister. She had no idea where to go. Then she heard a growl coming from behind her.

"No…" She dreaded. She started running, well, as well as she could considering she was carrying her sister and had a major wound in her thigh.

She kept running until a root caught her foot. She tripped. The beowolf was converging in on its target. She gathered all her strength. And threw one last punch.

 _CRACK_

"Aagh!" Her arm broke on the beowolf's skull. blood from both Yang and the beowolf started to leak. Some of it managed to seep its way into Yang's wounds.

She kept carrying Ruby. After for what felt like hours, she found a young woman. The woman had Amber eyes, and wore a lot of red. Yang called to her, "Please… Please take… Take my sister… Keep her safe." She forced out after catching the Amber eyed lady's attention. "Her name is Ruby…" Yang collapsed and couldn't even mutter out the last name of her sister.

"I'll take care of her."

"Thank you… Don't let the…" Yang couldn't utter out the last words. They sounded like 'hunters', but she couldn't keep herself going anymore.

The woman stayed long enough to see Yang finally close her eyes.

* * *

 _An unknown amount of time later, in an unknown location_

"Young dragon."

Yang's eyes fluttered open. She was in a dark room. She tied getting up, only to hit her head on something. "Ow! ugh… Where am I?"

"You don't remember?"

"Ugh, what are you talking about?" Yang asked.

"You are in a coffin. You are dead young dragon."

"... Bullshit."

"What is the last thing you remember, young dragon?"

"First, my name is 'Yang'. Spelled Y-A-N-G. Yang. Secondly, what do you mean by 'DEAD'?!" She demanded.

"You were mortally wounded by beowolves, Young Dra-" The voice cleared its throat, "-Yang. Their blood mixed with yours."

"I… I… What?" She asked, in a broken voice.

"You know why you are here, correct?"

"Tch, Grimm. The grimm got chased to our place by a group of… Huntsmen." She ground the last word out as if it were a curse to speak it.

"And they call themselves 'heroes'." The two vocalized simultaneously.

"Do you wish to get revenge? After all, it was the huntsmen that caused Raven to disappear, it was the huntsmen that caused Summer to die, it was the hunters that drove the grimm to your family, and it was the huntsmen that made you lose your sister."

"Wha… What happened to Ruby?"

"Do not worry Yang, she is safe. If she and the woman are lucky, they might be a new family."

"At least she's safe… Why are you talking to me? And how have I not suffocated?"

"Simple. You have the blood of grimm coursing through you, and it ate away at part of your soul" Yang's eye widened, "I have saved you because of your… unique ability to turn your pain into your foes' pain."

"You mean, my semblance?" Yang scoffed, "Who are you anyways?"

"Perhaps, you already know. You remember the stories that involve the 'Queen of Grimm'?"

"... After all I've been through, that doesn't surprise me. Can you get me out of here?" Yang asked with venom in her voice.

"Very well, but you will need a new name if you are to be my herald… Perhaps Yang Shi Long?"

"Eclipsed Sun Dragon? Really?"

"Yes, really. Now, there is something I need you to do something for me."

"What? If it gets me my sister back, I'm in. And if it lets me get payback on the quote-unquote heroes of the world, all the better." Her eyes glowed red as the coffin's lid rose off and released her.

* * *

 _Years Later…_

"Burn Fool!"

Yang had burned yet another hunter team. She didn't give a damn about them. After all, THEY were the ones who took away her family, it was only fair that she take them away from theirs.

She had commanded her grimm to retreat to the forest, one of the perks of being the Grimm Queen's herald was the ability to command grimm and hide them in her shadow for safekeeping. Her mistress had told her to go to Beacon to meet up with her sister. Then she would be contacted to start the revolution.

"Long you have played with fire Ozpin." The Grimm Queen began.

"Now it's time to see how well you do with hellfire." Yang finished.

 _ **To be continued...**_

* * *

 **AN: Yep. Yang Xiao Long- Or rather Yang Shi Long Is basically Scorpion… Or Ghost Rider, whichever you prefer. I'm open to suggestions for the Grimm Queen's name. And before you ask, yes. Raven is part of the revolution. What's the revolution about? That will be revealed later.**

 **Weapon of choice: A blunt Morning Star that doubles as a grappling hook. Y'Know, so her foes can, ahem, '** _ **GET OVER HERE!'**_ **And her gauntlets are forever locked in gun mode, firing off some form of 'hellfire bullets' that are built for aura depletion, but not massive damage (Unless the target has no soul, then it hits HARD, like a grimm… Or a corrupt politician) This might seem overpowered, but it can't really hurt the body. The name of this weapon is Diyu Guagou, which translates to 'Hell's hooks' in Chinese.**

 **Fun Facts: This new backstory was originally going to go to Ruby, until I opted to make her part of Cinder's gang.**

 **And that's all four. Up next: Beacon. Let's see how our new girls interact with those who claim to fight for the light…**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own RWBY, I could never do it justice.**


	6. The hunt has been joined

_Red Riding Hood… Snow White… Belle… Goldilocks. Their stories are known, now it is time to converge upon a single story._

* * *

Beacon academy. It was supposed to be a symbol of hope, a symbol of peace, and a symbol of prosperity. But to a few groups, it was all a lie. It gave off an aura of betrayal and lies. Headmaster Ozpin was in the middle of interviewing some new recruits.

The first was a girl in a red vest, amber shirt, wearing a skirt-tights combo, Wore some rather durable-looking running shoes, and had red highlights in her hair. "So, Miss Fall, was it?"

"Just call me Ruby." She said with little emotion in her voice. Ozpin flinched at the bluntness.

"I used to know a person who had a niece named Ruby…" He noted.

"Huh, small world." The girl muttered, just loud enough for Ozpin to hear.

"You also have… Silver eyes…" He noted with curiosity.

"And your hair is silver as well, what's your point?" Ruby countered with a hint of hostility.

"Hmm. Hostile, but if we can channel that hostility towards the grimm and the recent slew of terrorists, we can turn you into a great hero." He failed to notice the flinch at the word 'hero', but found it strange that she flashed a small smile at the word 'terrorists'. 'Perhaps she has a grudge…'

"Is there anything else you need to know Prof?"

"Just why do you want to be a huntress?"

"Simple. I lost a lot when I was younger. I'm not going to let that happen to another person." Ozpin smiled. He stamped 'Accepted' on her application.

"Welcome to Beacon…"

* * *

"Miss Schnee, now I understand that you wield the backing of the SDC, and have large amounts of dust, but can you tell me why I should accept you, when reports show you talking to… What appears to be an imaginary friend?" Ozpin asked. The girl was wearing white jean shorts that held her weapons on her ankle bracers, a white shirt that had the Schnee family logo on it, shoes that appeared somehow be built for both dancing _and_ track running at the same time.

"The doctors say it's my way of coping with the death of my family." She answered after looking to her left for a bit. Ozpin failed to see the ghost of Weiss' sister.

"He does not see me yet sis, but if you can keep him occupied, I can help you in getting in." Winter communicated with Weiss.

"Well, Miss Schnee-"

"Please, my name is Weiss." The Heiress interrupted.

"Alright, Weiss, tell me, in a situation, A terrorist has trapped you in a room where there is a detonator that will cause an explosion, he gives you a scenario where you must choose between saving a bus full of children, and a building full of orphans, which one do you save? You must choose one to escape. You have a video feed to show you what atrocity you decide on." Ozpin said.

"It's a trick question, Weiss. You stall for time until the kids get out of the bus, then blow it up." Winter explained.

"Simple," Ozpin raised an eyebrow, "I'll wait for the kids to exit the bus, then let it blow up. No orphans blown up, no students blown up either." Ozpin's eyes widened, only five people in the history of hunting actually got that question right.

"Very well. You're in." Ozpin decided, Weiss was too busy celebrating to hear what he was saying until Winter made her turn her attention back to Ozpin. "... may first hunter…"

* * *

"Miss Belladonna, I understand that your file says you are a faunus, but is the disguise really necessary?" Ozpin was rather tired of these last-minute entries, thankfully he only had one more after this.

"I don't know if you've noticed, but people aren't exactly very trusting of faunus around here. And please, call me Blake." The girl replied. She was wearing a white tank top, a black jacket, black jeans, and was wearing some shoes that appeared to be built for stealth.

"Figures…" the headmaster muttered, forgetting that the girl's superior hearing made his comment known to her, "Anyways Blake, I need to give you a quick test to determine if you are eligible for Beacon." He placed a piece of paper in front of her.

While Blake was working on the test, Ozpin took a look at the final person he had to interview for the day.

"-Finished!" Blake said. Ozpin looked over the test, marking it up.

"You did well, you're in."

Blake started out the door but only caught a few words he was saying. "...Oum be with you…"

* * *

"Miss…" Ozpin began, before he noticed the new student about to say something, "Let me guess, 'call you Yang'?" The girl appeared surprised, but nodded. Her attire consisted of a dark yellow shirt, a black leather jacket, black jeans with yellow accents, and black combat boots that had what appeared to be eclipsed moon red on the zipper. And for some reason, she also had a facial mask over her mouth and nose, and had some aviator goggles.

"Your credentials are rather impressive, and the recommendations are rather reliable. But we still need to give an evaluation for your admittance." The girl nodded.

He placed a small pad in front of her, she stared at it. she started to rapidly get at the questions, somehow pulling it off with her leather gloves. When she finished, the screen glowed green, indicating a pass.

Yang started for the door, Ozpin's last words still echoed with her. "... For your journey..."

* * *

Ruby was on top of the roof, setting up her communication devices.

Weiss and Winter were in the hallways, scouting all allies and their position.

Blake was in the shadows of the school grounds, learning where every security camera was.

Yang was meditating by the cliff communicating with the grimm of the forest.

All four girls were thinking the exact same thing, 'Get ready for a bloody revolution…'

* * *

 **AN: So… Yeah. Revolution. Up next: Rebellion RWBY meets JNPR, More on what the revolution is about, more about who is fighting and why they're fighting, and the most important question is answered:** _ **Why are we here?**_

 **Well, I'm writing this, and the characters are here because they have a war to fight. So why are** **you** **here?**

 **Attire is now swapped up because of new personalities and changed sides.**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own RWBY… Not much of a creative disclaimer, is it?**


	7. The Forest of Emeralds

_The scales tip as the warriors who fight for the balance of the world are now thrust into the briar patch of the enemy of balance. But when light out balances the darkness, the darkness must grow stronger. The darkness must fight back. There must be casualties._

* * *

"Ruby Fall, Weiss Schnee, Blake Belladonna, Yang Shi Long. You have been Chosen to be team RWBY. You will be led by miss Fall. May The first hunter Oum be with you on your journeys together." The four girls all retreated to their quarters after the nerve-wrecking assembly.

Some students had died out during initiation. Some by their hands, others by the hands, or rather; the claws, talons, stingers, tusks, fangs, and bulk of the grimm. And only a few of them were not controlled by Salem's herald.

* * *

 _Hours earlier…_

The up and coming students had just been launched into the forest. Yang noticed a redhead preparing a crash landing. 'Hmm, not a bad idea…' Yang smashed into tree after tree, her aviator goggles protecting her eyes from any branches or twigs that would otherwise get lodged in, and the last thing she needed was people asking why her eye was both bloody and intact. She finally landed, using her fire to burn the twigs off her hair, she started to the direction of the temple. Some of the wayward branches impaled some poor fool who had wanted to have his way with her the night before.

Blake had used her weapon to slice through several trees to slow her descent. She had noticed a guy garbed in green using a similar tactic of hooking his blades to the trees, and decided to do something similar. On the final strike, she fired a dust-infused arrow towards her, having it explode in a storm of sand. She landed on her feet in the middle of the pile. Dusting herself off, and readjusting her bow, she started towards the direction she assumed held the relics. 'Alright, the fight starts now…' Shame that the blast from the dust threw some chick off guard and caused her to break her neck on a different branch.

Weiss had seen a young girl with a hammer smashing her weapon to come to a sudden stop, "Quite the brute" Winter had commented, "Try shooting some ice and blast dust to create a pile of snow to land in." She advised. Weiss nodded, after unleashing her flurry of snow, she used a glyph to slow her descent a bit more before crashing into the snowbank. She whispered her thanks to her sister and started towards where Winter had mentioned the temple's direction. She left some frigid stalagmites for the poor unfortunate soul who had decided it would be funny to steal her underwear.

Ruby had quite the firepower under her belt, but seeing a blonde kid flailing, she decided to use a much different tactic. Using Rending Thorn's greatsword mode, she placed her feet on the flat side of the blade. Using her weapon as a riding board of sorts, she slashed through several trees, and one nevermore before she could safely transfer the momentum of the launch into her speed. She started to dash towards the temple. Her thought upon landing being 'For the Queen.' She shot some person who had the gall to try and flirt with her out of the air.

* * *

Yang's very presence alone keeps the grimm at bay. They dare not to attack their queen's herald. 'As it should be...' she thought. Her trek had gotten her some rather… Interesting tributes to her and her queen. Bodies of various students and wild animals littered the forest floor.

 _Do you like our offering mistress?_ Yang turned her head to a small beowolf, it held a man's body in its teeth. The man appeared to be the same guy whom she had noticed was flexing to impress some girls or something last night. She didn't really pay attention as she didn't need sleep in the first place. He had a weird weapon, it resembled shoulder pads, just with spikes on them, and handles to fire the dust in the spikes as needle projectiles. The herald crouched down, took the fallen warrior's weapons for her own, and ruffled the hair of the small beowolf.

"Yes, little one. What is your name?" She asked, her voice having an echo to it that would make many people flinch. She wasn't one to talk often.

 _Name? I was not given a name. We are merely grimm. Only the most powerful gain a name. I was the only survivor of my pack when this one fell._ the beowolf 'communicated'.

"Shame." Yang looked down at the beowolf, and at the man. When she noticed the beowolf moving away in a solemn way. "Wait!" The beowolf stopped and turned around.

 _Yes great one?_

"Would you like to travel with me?" Yang asked, extending her hand.

 _Of course! Thank you so much mistress! But of what help would I be? I am but a simple beowolf._

"You are more than that. You are a survivor, like I am." Yang reassured. She looked to the spoils of the assault 'Hmm, perhaps I can use my abilities to make these weapons usable for this one…' She concentrated, weapons became enveloped in hellfire, becoming usable for the young beowolf.

The beowolf had the newly reforged weapons attached to the shoulders of the beast. Heavily modified so the young beast could utilize it without having to actually pick it up sure, the weapon could no longer be used in its gun form, but the spikes could now imbed themselves with hellfire. The beowolf was rather excited to be of use for the herald. _I love them mistress! But, how can I accompany you?_

"Simple Shadow, I can hide you in my own shadow with my abilities." Yang explained.

The beowolf appeared confused _Shadow?_

"Yes, that is your name now. I noticed you are a female grimm." Yang explained.

 _We have genders?_ the newly-named Shadow questioned

"Yes, it is impossible to tell for regular humans, mostly because they don't take the time nor effort to study grimm. But I am Salem's herald, I am not ordinary." She said firmly. "Also, call me Yang." She requested in a friendly voice.

 _Of course mistre- I mean Yang._ Shadow said with what could be construed as a smile on her face as she leapt into Yang's shadow, completely disappearing in a darkened portal, the only trace being some faint red markings that disappeared after a while.

* * *

Blake had used her natural abilities to defeat several grimm. She noticed a blonde girl heading in the direction she was heading and figured that she could be a worthy addition to her revolution. She had decided that the girl must be worth something if she was ready to just crash into the trees like she did, and as she could attest, not many people would be willing to hide their appearance unless they were faunus. She would need a partner to properly attend Beacon after all. 'Now, where is she?'

She noticed the girl she was looking for. Blake had finally found her target. She noticed an ursa trailing behind her. No, not an ursa, a large bear. Not a grimm, but still deadly. It may not have that armor plating, but they made up for it in pure brute force.

Her arrow went right through the head of the bear. "Looks like we're partners, huh blondie?"

The blonde girl only grunted in response. She motioned the girl to come with her.

"Not much of a talker huh?" No response. "I can dig that." Still no response. "Your name is…?" A hand showed the young faunus a piece of paper with her name on it. "'Yang Shi Long', huh, nice to meet ya Yang, my name is Blake. Blake Belladonna, and before you ask, yes. I am aware that 'Blake' is traditionally a guy's name, but my parents are sorta weird like that."

Still no response.

"Dammit! Will you just talk already?" The blonde stopped walking after the outburst from the black-haired girl. Her glare alone would have been enough to strike fear into any normal person. Unfortunately for the spectre, Blake was one who had a large empire of revolutionaries and was far from normal.

 _Mistress! There is a rogue King Taijitu in the area!_ Yang's attention was drawn south towards where she sensed its presence. She grabbed the arm of the other girl, and started running west, towards the temple.

"What the- What are you doing?" Blake demanded. Then the two-headed snake made its presence known to many with its scream towards the heavens. "Was that a king taijitu?" Blake asked, worried.

Yang merely nodded. The taijitu were more prone to rebel against the Queen of Grimm, and the herald of the queen. Granted, she was the only herald to have been made, but that was beside the point. The snake reared its heads and started to strike.

Both girls were in for the fight of their lives

* * *

Ruby Fall had hardly felt an emotion since her time on the island of patch, but she was close to what one would be considered 'annoyed'. She was simply minding her own business, slicing any tree, grimm, or wildlife who were unfortunate enough to be in the wrong place, at the wrong time. Then she met Weiss Schnee.

'Something is very strange about this heiress.' She thought. Not that she was wrong or anything, the white haired girl seemed to be having a conversation with an invisible person as they were trekking through the forest. 'Who the hell is she talking to? The Queen could possibly use this information.'

She sighed internally, Ruby never enjoyed being separated from her Queen for long periods of time. Her Queen was always kind, and caring, and Ruby was always happy to do what she was asked. Her life prior to her turning seven was a total blank to her. Having the surname of 'Fall' gave her a boost of confidence on her missions, the only downside was that she felt as if she had to earn the right to keep the name.

She was surprised to find Cinder cuddling with her after a particularly rough night.

This Weiss, on the other hand, was a strange case, her attitude seemed to scream both 'Ice Queen', and 'Nice Girl' at the same time. But the fact that she appeared a little eccentric was off-putting to say the least.

"Do you even know where we're going?" Weiss asked.

"Well, I-"

"I wasn't talking to you." Weiss cut her off, ignoring the spiteful glare that was sent her way. "What do you think?" She asked in a whisper.

"I am disappointed in your lack of faith in me, sister." Weiss shot the ghost a glare, "Yes, I saw several other teams heading in that direction, if it's not the temple, it should be the place where the teachers will pick you up. Your partner should be able to rush to the temple's location and back in a few minutes, a few hours if she is unfortunate enough to run into grimm." Winter added.

"Good, we keep moving." Weiss responded.

"This is taking too long." Ruby suddenly said without a hint of emotion in her voice, startling Weiss, but before the heiress could ask what her partner was planning, she noticed a giant nevermore sailing ahead.

It took Weiss eight seconds to realize what Ruby was planning. "I hate you. I really do."

* * *

Blake and Yang had arrived at the temple, with Yang covered in taijitu blood, her hellfire having gotten rid of the saliva. Her plan had involved jumping into the mouth of the beast, and burning it from within using hellfire. Blake was impressed to say the least, especially since she had only been able to snap off the fangs of both heads. They were her trophies, and she was planning to turn them into daggers.

The grimm may dissipate after a certain amount of time, but any bone pieces that are shattered or broken off beforehand, did not.

The duo arrived at the relics, "Chess pieces?" Blake questioned, "Why would they use chess pieces as relics?" She pondered for a bit, "Maybe if the pairs grab the same piece, they're placed on the same team, what do you think Yang?" She turned to her partner, who merely shrugged. "Well, you're the one who brought down the taijitu, you pick." She offered.

Yang had walked up to the remaining pieces, deducing that several had possibly been taken by other students, wildlife, or destroyed by grimm. She looked towards the remaining pieces, seeing two golden knights, two golden rooks, and two bishops of different color. She walked up to the pedestal and grabbed the knight.

"Ahh. The white, or rather golden, knight. You must be one who prefers to jump to the front lines to attack or something."

"Nah, I just won more games with this piece than with others." Yang replied, barely able to mask her echo. Blake was surprised to say the least, the only other time she heard the blonde talk, was when she was shouting obscenities while inside the stomach of the taijitu.

"Well, let's get going before anymore grimm show up-"

Blake was cut off by several shots of ice raining down nearby, creating a large pile of snow. A few seconds later, a white-haired girl came down holding onto the waist of another girl in a red vest riding on a glaive. The two then used the improvised snowboard to come to a stop after a bit of showing off on the red girl's part.

"What the…"

This time, Yang was cut off by a red haired girl being chased by a large deathstalker that had a blonde guy clinging onto the tail for dear life, and another girl riding an ursa with an exhausted-looking boy trailing behind her. 'And here I thought _I_ was the only grimm rider here.'

"That was the worst idea ever! Of all time!" The white girl screamed at her partner, "Honestly, Ruby, I'd expect this sort of recklessness out of ursa rider over there." She pointed to the girl who was riding a grimm earlier, who seemed disappointed that it was 'broken'.

"Well, we're still able to walk, right Weiss?" Ruby asked with harshness, "A…" She clenched her eyes shut, as if to indicate irritation at what she was about to say, "... Friend of mine once said, 'Any landing you can walk away from is a successful one.'" Indeed, Roman had said that several times, given how many airships he crashed due to incompetence, local law enforcement, grimm attacks, or even more incompetence, it was practically his favorite thing to say.

Weiss merely harrumphed, clearly unimpressed by the impromptu landing. All attention was on the argument until the blonde boy pointed to the deathstalker, "Uh, guys? That thing's rearing it's ugly face!" He failed to notice Yang's glare.

The herald could care less about the nevermore, it was one of the few ones that actually decided to go rogue, but the deathstalker was one that Salem commanded to impale anyone unfortunate or stupid enough to walk into its cave. How the two in front of her survived was beyond her comprehension.

"Alright Jaune," The redhead commanded, "You go get a relic, and I'll hold this bug off!" She also failed to notice Yang's glare.

Jaune went across the bridge, and grabbed a rook piece, noting the other girl doing the same. "I'm queen of the castle! I'm queen of the castle!" She sang.

Ruby and the young man the singing girl was accompanied by rolled their eyes.

"Nora, c'mon, we gotta go help the others." The boy said.

"Okay Ren!" Nora said, with enough enthusiasm that Yang and Ruby would find nauseating, as she skipped back to her friend.

"Pyrrha! I got the relic! Do you need help?" Jaune asked, seeing his partner struggling against the scorpionic grimm.

"That would be nice!" She yelled atop the feather shots from the nevermore. "Team rook! Let's take on the stalker! Knights! Hit the nevermore!" She commanded.

"Don't order me around." Ruby muttered under her breath. Only her Queen had the right to give her orders.

The team consisting of Cinder's finest assassin, The frigid girl who knows ghosts, a criminal empress, and Salem's herald all stood nearby each other. All ready to take on the large bird.

Yang's attack came first, as she used Diyu Guagou's grappling hook to latch onto the nevermore's left leg. "GET OVER HERE!" She yelled, as she started pulling on her weapon. The nevermore was caught off-guard, as the herald's brute force forced it to veer closer to the quartet before using its wings to pull itself and Yang into the air.

Blake's attack came second, "Eat your heart out, Robin Hood!" Her Fortuna Nero shooting an electric shot at the nevermore's eye, causing a painful shock to go through it and Yang at the same time.

Despite Yang's glare, Weiss launched the next attack on the disoriented and half blind nevermore using the green dust to start launching air slashes at the bird using Staubblatt. "This is only going to hurt for a moment. The slashes of air hit the wings, causing several cuts and even caused some holes to form on them.

Yang used her weapon to bash the leg off of the nevermore before she jumped off. The nevermore crashed into a cliff, as Ruby's attack came to finish it off. using the rifle mode of Rending Thorn, she shot off several shots into the head of the bird. each of them being embedded with the blast dust that Weiss was carrying, causing the nevermore's head to explode, leaving only the body and a pool of blood remaining. "Feel the thorns of the flower." She said in a voice that sent shivers down the other team's spine.

The four girls looked over to the deathstalker, seeing that its stinger was cut off and forced into the head, effectively killing it. "Are we done here?" Jaune asked, in a bit of a sarcastic tone. Ren had passed out, needing to be carried by the Nora girl as she not-so subtly tried to get his unconscious body to cop a feel.

Winter had surveyed the area and reported that no other grimm were in the area. Weiss relayed the message, "Yeah, I think so. Let's get to the pick up zone." Everyone nodded, as they all trekked to the airship area, making little, if any conversation.

* * *

Ruby was walking through the halls, looking for all possible areas that can be used to plant surveillance devices; Weiss was roaming the cafeteria, taking note of the food supplies and estimating how long it would take for them to run low; Blake was in the computer lab, gathering information; and Yang was on the rooftop, chatting with Shadow and discussing the revolution.

Unbeknown to the newly christened team RWBY, all said the same thing in the middle of the night, at the same time.

"Long live the revolution..."

* * *

 **AN: Yep, plot's all set up, time to see the revolution. Now, as I said before, I was going to explain the revolution, and I figure this is a good place as any…**

 **To tell you that it will be explained in full detail next chapter.**

 **Yes, I'm a troll.**

 **Fun Facts: I made Oum the first hunter, because when you think about it, he's the reason huntsmen and huntresses exist in the first place… Eh? eh? Well, that aside, you probably noticed that all OCs are effectively cannon fodder. Anyways, Shadow's weapons are similar to the needlers from** _ **Halo**_ **, just orange in color, and acting as shoulder pads that can shift itself towards the claws.**

 **Disclaimer: I would be lying if I said 'I own RWBY.' Which is to say, that I** **don't** **own it.**


	8. The school of hunting

" _The battle of light and darkness is eternal. For centuries the balance was kept by the secret group of people known only as the BGC. Until many a year ago, the rogue group known only as 'Charon', tampered with the balance. They tipped the balance to favor the corrupt. Caused the grimm to attack the cities._

 _Their power was immense, causing abnormalities in many. These abnormalities caused people to crave power, even to the point of brutalizing others for it. It caused humans to attack the faunus in a vain attempt to prove their superiority. The normally-peaceful faunus retaliated. Both sides suffered casualties, and ultimately, while the riots have died down, all are still being affected by the imbalance, and are still trying to tip it even more in favor of the darkness."_

* * *

Blake scoffed. To many, the tale was talking about the 'good' of the light, but to a select few, it was reversed. It was the light that tipped the balance, not the darkness. The light was drunk on power, the grimm were simply hungry, the loss of a valuable food source made them ravenous, or at least, that was what the local grimm cult claimed. Faunus aside, they were the primary target of police brutality, and that was only because it was easier to identify a faunus than it was to identify… Whatever the cult's name was called.

"Miss Belladonna!" Professor Dearg exclaimed, "Is there a reason you find Historic Literature boring?"

"No, _Donker_ I don't find it funny. In fact, I find it to be a rather trivial to know this dumb legend that you learn about when you're like, five years old or something." She glared at the red-clad man who also wore black jeans. He also had way too much portable electronics on him in Blake's opinion.

"Miss Belladonna, if you would, I would appreciate if you were to take this class, and me, seriously."

Blake scoffed, "I doubt that anyone could take you seriously with a name like yours."

"Miss Fall, could you please control your teammate?" He asked, with growing frustration.

"Doubt it." Came the response of the girl that seemed to be rather apathetic towards the entire argument.

"Miss Long," Yang looked up from her scroll, as far as some could tell, she was researching something, what that something was, nobody knew. "Could you tell your partner to kindly show some respect, or at the very least, hold all her sarcastic comments until _after_ class?"

Yang decided, after little thinking, that it wasn't worth her trouble and went back to her research. The professor groaned, and decided to focus his attention to Weiss.

"Miss Schnee, could you…" He was put off guard by her little conversation with herself. When she turned her head towards him, he ultimately decided it wasn't worth the headache Team RWBY was giving him.

"Told you. This class is pretty much useless." Blake said finally. leaning back in her seat with a smug smirk on her face.

The professor glared, then his gaze softened into one of smugness, "Alright, since miss Belladonna here seems to believe my class to be a waste of time, everyone here now has to do a ten-page essay on a legend. But, since I am a nice person, I'll allow you to choose the legend you wish to write about. Typed, Double-Spaced, and in one of the approved fonts."

The class groaned, "Professor! That is unfair!" Jaune exclaimed, "It was Team RWBY that disrupted the class, why group us with them?" He complained.

"First; Mr Arc, the correct phrase is 'Why would you group us up in with them?', second; I am doing this because disciplining the entire group encourages behavior correction from within, and third; I was planning to give out this assignment anyways, miss Belladonna there simply doubled the amount of required pages with her impudence." Donker Dearg said, using copious amounts of sarcasm.

The class, minus Team RWBY, all glared at the girl clad in a Beacon uniform and a black jacket. Blake simply shrugged it off, "Whatever. I can get this done in under two hours." She claimed with confidence.

"Well then, maybe you should start calling out the legends you wish to study. I'd recommend choosing the one that you enjoy now, because I will only be allowing up to four people to a legend." He explained, with a grin that, in Blake's opinion, was basically saying 'Yeah, I just did that. What are you going to do about it?'

"I call dibs on the legend on The _Lancers of Freedom_!" Nora called out. With this, the entire class started calling out legends as loudly, and as quickly as they could.

"I want to do the story of the tamed Grimm Edgar!"

The Professor grinned, this happened every time, thankfully, his tech could keep track of who was doing what.

"If anyone takes the _Deceased Fantasy_ one, I will sue!"

His grinned widened at the chaos being started by the competition. This tactic always showed how desperate a student would be for an easy grade, and he would pass the information onto the combat instructors so they could discipline the really desperate ones.

"My grandfather was in the legend of the _Arc Rescue Tale_ , I'll be taking that!"

'Figures Mr Arc would take that one. Though, I wonder how long it will take for someone to-'

" _The Four Maidens._ I'm going to do the _Four Maidens_ , and you can't stop me!"

'Ahh, leave it to Miss Nikos to take that one. Can't wait to see her face when she finds out that it's no mere fairy tale…'

"I'll be taking the legend of Cthulhu, thank you very much."

Figures, the assignment also provided a look into the personality of the student in question. So it came as no surprise that the one who disrupted the class would take the tale of the legendary grimm that caused chaos wherever it went. He had come across some books about the beast, and it was common for troublemakers to take that specific legend.

"The tale of the Grimm Queen Salem please."

The class went from noisy to silent in point-oh twenty-five seconds as all heads turned to the person who had requested such a dark and, to use a pun, grim legend to write an essay about.

"Miss Shi Long, are you sure about that? Professor Dearg asked with concern, 'Nobody ever takes that one' even when the syllabus stated that any student able to write a full essay on the horror-filled legend would get an automatic 'A', nobody could ever actually keep going back to find proper references without requiring therapy afterwards, and even then, they could only get about halfway done before the horrid images would start manifesting in their minds.

"Yeah, I'm sure. Now, I think it's about time I get started, so I'll be going to the library." She said, as she made her way out. A few other students flinched when she walked by them, and one of them opted to slam the door shut the moment she stepped out of the classroom.

"Uhh, just come up to me with your requests, then you are allowed to go to the school library to work on you assignment." Professor Dearg squeaked out, unable to comprehend why a young girl would subject themselves to such horror. 'Not even Ironwood, Ozpin, or even the captured terrorists could read the stories about the grimm queen Salem without getting nightmares.'

* * *

"Did you really have to do that Blake?" Teams RWB and JNPR were walking down the halls, making their way to the library, with other classmates being ticked off at the girl to even speak to her, only these six were willing to be friendly.

"Yeah, I kinda did, Nikos. I didn't see you complain about getting to do the _Four Maidens_ tales for your assignment." She shot back.

Neither of Blake's teammates said anything on the matter, with Ruby choosing the legend of the _Alien Saviors Battle_ , needless to say, the stories that led to it left many with a bad taste in their mouth. Weiss had opted for the classic Vampire origins story, and Ren had been lucky enough to be one of the ones who got to do the _Deceased Fantasy_ legend. Nobody noticed Ruby slipping away.

"Well still." She was still pouting, all the way to the library. They scanned the immediate area, to find Yang sitting nearby a computer with a book in hand

* * *

Beneath Yang's mask, she was smiling and trying not to laugh, 'They actually think _this_ is what happened? oh please.' she flipped a page, 'Oh, wow. That's been exaggerated.' flip, 'Wow, these writers either have zero idea how many people she killed in that regard, or maybe those were the only bodies they found.'

She flipped the page and stifled a giggle, "What's so funny Yang?" The spectre looked up to see Weiss with a raised eyebrow, and an inquizitive look on her face.

"Nothing, I just…" She did her best to, unsuccessfully, hide the laughter, 'I just cannot see how any person would be scared of the woman who has actually _saved_ more innocent lives, than killed them' is what she wanted to say, but then her cover would be blown. "I am just unable to see what is so terrifying about this woman."

"She kills innocent people!" Jaune exclaimed.

'Actually, those were all corrupt people who killed countless of innocent animals, villages, and even the more… Innocent grimm, but yeah, sure. Let's go with _that_ '.

"In really gruesome ways too!" Pyrrha added.

'Actually, the people who got killed, only got the gruesome treatment if they were rapists, but still…'

"Why the hell would you even find that _remotely_ entertaining?" Nora asked. Without her usual energy and joyfulness, it felt unsettling when she asked that.

Yang smirked under her mask, "Perhaps you would like to hear a tale from this book?" She flipped through the book until she found the story titled Tartarus Unleashed "' _Salem's forces had stood victorious over the heroic fighters of the ship,_ The Tartarus _, the blood that was spread everywhere was large and grand, the only survivor being the ship's captain. The Queen then called two nevermores and sentenced the captain to-'_ "

"No! No! Stop it! I can't take it!" How humorous. The invincible Pyrrha Nikos can't handle a bastardized telling of the most gruesome battle ever to take place on an aircraft.

"Hey, where's Ruby?"

* * *

"Ruby are you alright?"

"Yes, my Queen. I am unhurt, and at Beacon Academy. I trust that we are on a secure line?"

Ruby was on the phone with Cinder. Taking a secure point on the roof, she had hacked into the system so as to ensure that at the very least, _her_ call would not be reported.

"Of course. How is my precious gemstone?" Cinder asked with concern.

"I am fine my Queen. It is just that a teammate of mine had increased the workload of a certain assignment here."

"Oh? What assignment? Perhaps someone here can assist you." Cinder offered, holding back her desire to have Ruby refer to her as 'mother'.

"It is some assignment where we are required to take a legend, and write a ten-page essay about it. I took the _Alien Saviors Battle_." She replied.

"Ah, that one." Cinder paused, and Ruby heard some commotion over the line. Cinder got back on after half a minute "Alright, I got some random guy to do the essay instead. Any word on our contacts?"

"Only the cat-girl. She was the one who increased the workload for the class."

"I see. Our other associates should reveal themselves soon. One of them should be heading to Vale soon to deal with the Umbra cult. The person will go there, then make their way towards our base camp. You and the cat-girl should be on break by then."

"Very well, my Queen." The two hung up.

* * *

Cinder sighed, "I just want to be called 'mom' once before this is over. Is that wrong?" She placed the phone on her desk, and leaned against it with both hands.

"Not in my eyes. Summer gave you permission to be her replacement mother, y'know." A woman standing behind Cinder said.

"Thanks, I guess. I still miss her though." Cinder wiped a tear from her eye, "Thanks for the talk Raven."

"No problem" The darker-haired woman reassured on her way through the portal.

* * *

 **A/N: Viva la revolution! - Yes, Raven is working with Cinder.**

 **Bonus points to all of you who can guess the references. Winners will be declared in the next chapter.**

 **Fun facts: … None for this chapter, really.**

 **Keep in mind that I write these well in advance, so if your idea is a good one, there might be a slight delay to integrate it into the story. Also, I finally got a name for the grimm cult that'll be appearing in the story. If there is enough demand, I will post a chapter detailing the true history and the differences between what was written in the history books of this storyline. Even more demand, and I'll even post a fic of some of the stories, the first will be what the history books say, the second will be what actually happened.**

 **Oh, and I'm going to say this right now, "Any Salem X Cinder fic will be called 'Hellfire', and Salem X Yang will be 'Shadowflame.'" Take that people who want to come up with their own ship name.**

 **Disclaimer: The day I own RWBY is the day people will stop raging over the** _ **Goku vs. Superman**_ **Death Battle… Or never, whichever comes first… Probably the latter.**


	9. The Shade: Part 1

_As with the cycle of seasons, the cycle of night and day must also change. A full moon fills the sky tonight. The light keeps hurting people, the darkness fights back._

* * *

"Would you hurry up?"

Emerald had been irritated by Mercury for several hours by now. It wasn't her fault that she didn't have prosthetic legs. Her growl would have been audible from the nearby rooftop had there not been for the local sirens going off in the distance.

"Hey, Em'," Emerald looked towards her partner with a raised eyebrow, "You have the map, are we almost there?"

Emerald was confused for a moment, until realization struck her, "Huh? Oh! Right!" She grabbed her scroll "We're almost there, just two more blocks, and a right turn. Second building on the right."

"Good. My legs could use one of Ruby's famous tune-ups."

"Yeah," Emerald was lost in nostalgia as they crossed the street, recalling all the little gadgets little Ruby made. Cinder said it was her way of taking her mind off of some… _Traumatic_ experiences. "Remember those crazy ass machete-pistols she made?"

"The ones that are now the standard weapon for all our guys? Yeah, I think she also said they could turn into a grav-lift if you got like… Seven or eight of them together." He recalled, scratching his head.

"Man, that made robbing dust _so_ much easier." Emerald replied, as they made their turn.

Mercury nodded, "Yeah. It was real quiet without having the little squirt around for two months. I can't believe I'm saying this, but I actually missed her." He chuckled a bit as they passed the first building.

"I'll tell her you said that." Emerald said with a smirk on her face.

The silvery-gray haired boy grimaced, "No! You can't tell her I said that!" He reached for the green-haired girl's shoulder, only to find that she had used her semblance to trick him into thinking she got ahead of him, when she was actually still behind the boy. He growled, "Grr, that is really freaking annoying. Y'know that, right?"

Emerald sped up her pace and placed her hand on the young man's shoulder, "Yeah, I know." She had a smug smirk on her face as she went into the building.

* * *

"All hail to Salem! All hail Salem!"

The crowd of people and faunus were all bowing to a shrouded statue, all of them wearing a similar black hood to that of the figure.

The Umbra religion of the grimm.

The meeting was going well, people were socializing with one another after the ceremony, many were speaking in hushed tones.

"Crap! It's the cops! Everyone, get out of here- agh!" All of the worshipers turned to the cause of the disruption, seeing the dead body of the man who had given the warning. The eight officers stepped through the doorway.

"Alright, you bunch of troublemakers, we can do this the easy way, or the _hard_ way." The cop leader grinned, "Oh, please chose the hard way. It's been a long time, and the faunus aren't showing their ugly mugs anymore." The seven officers had no intention of letting the cultists go... Unscratched.

"Like _hell_ we will!" The woman in front yelled in defiance. She had scarlet eyes and raven-black hair. The only other thing that made her stand out amongst the others was that she had a weapon. A sword that seemed to have a revolving dust chamber in the sheath.

"Ah, you must be the leader of this nutjob cult." The woman nodded as the six officers grabbed their guns, and started loading the dust rounds into it.

"I am the leader of this _religious_ practice, yes." She glared at the officers, wondering why the five of them were here. They had been careful, there shouldn't have been any way for them to find this place.

As if he read her mind, the chief spoke, "In case you're wondering, bitch, you got a mole in your ranks." Her eyes widened, as she started to look around, she saw four officers in front of her, several other practitioners to her right shaking in shock, and to her left…

"I'm sorry! They… They threatened my family… I didn't have a choice…" A man, with brown-blonde hair, and blue eyes wailed. His sunglasses fell from his shirt pocket and he flinched as one of the three officers stepped on them. The man sighed, "Well, that was a waste of five hundred lien…"

"It isn't your fault, pal. Family and friends come first here. We understand." Another person, a man with black hair in a red headband said, consoling his friend. "We just have to deal with the three officers that are here right-"

He was cut off. "What? We brought eight!" The chief bellowed, he and his officers turned around to find that their comrades had disappeared. "Wh- Where did they go?" He was panicking, until he heard a demonic laugh that sent chills down his spine and back.

"You may wish to look upwards, chief." The voice was distinctly feminine, and the chief knew it would haunt his nightmares for months to come, should he survive. He turned his gaze upwards, using his flashlight to illuminate the darkened ceiling of the building.

There, hanging by their own entrails, were the five other policemen he brought with him. Blood dripping to the floor, with the looks on their faces being one of complete shock and horror. "What the…"

"I've gone by many names in my travels, my personal favorite being 'The Grimm Herald.'" The voice taunted.

"Wh- What?" One of the cops yelled in fright, "You're… You're supposed to be a _myth_. A decade-old story people pass around a campfire to scare their friends!" He was clearly panicking, holding his gun shakingly, and pointing it everywhere he could hear the voice echoing.

"Well, would you like to _see_ the myth?" She demanded more than asked, as a claw came in from above him, yanking him by his foot to the ceiling, as he screamed.

"No... NOOO!" The man screamed, until his body was tossed down, followed by his head that still had it's spine attached to it.

The figure then launched something at the mouth of the other cop, who had just lost his lunch on the floor. He recoiled in pain as his aura took visible damage as he stumbled back into something he found to be rather furry.

It was a beowolf that was wielding some strange claw extensions that glowed orange in color. He dropped his gun in horror as he fell down when the claws revealed themselves to be able to light themselves on fire.

The chief looked on in fear as his last subordinate was burned to nothing but a skeleton. He shifted his gaze to that of Salem's Herald, taking two steps back for every step she made, until the religious leader tripped the man onto his back. She looked to the group's savior and bowed her head.

"No need for that, I was planning on stopping by anyways." The herald motioned for the woman to lift her head up, and took note of her red eyes. "Perhaps you and I can get to know each other. I'm sure your friends would like to administer justice to this scumbag." The practitioners nodded as did their leader.

"My name is Raven. Raven Branwen. It's good to see you…"

The herald smiled as they made their way to a more private place to speak, "Good to meet you, in a past life, my name was Yang Xiao Long…"

* * *

Ah, this was the life. With the Vytal tournament coming up, homework was practically non-existent, and there was an extended break for the students to visit friends and relatives, rest and relax, or just go out to Vale and enjoy life.

Blake was living it up in her penthouse, her apprentice out, entering the tournament, representing Atlas with some associate of hers named Flynt Coal. Shame his father's dust buisness got knocked out of the market by Weiss' father. On the plus side, her connection with the heiress gave her a sneak peak at any new products her think tank thought up. Coming up next was a special type of container that would allow for pressurised air blasts to imbed themselves with elemental dust.

"Alright Neon, our associates should be meeting up in a little while. How has your undercover work been?"

"It's been going well, Hardy." She said with a smile, 'Hardy' was Blake's alias when she went out, it also helped that nobody saw her except for those she wanted to have see her "Ironwood suspects nothing, but as a heads up, there's a rumor that he has some android or something." Neon read off the report in front of her.

"And how is this one different from his precious 'knights'?" Blake asked.

"Simple, boss: This one has an _aura_." Blake's eyes widened.

"How?"

"Dunno, boss. Rumor has it that they did some kind of aura transfer." Neon shrugged.

Blake thought for a bit, "That would require a donor, any idea as to whose aura they took?"

"I'll have to look into it. But we might be in the middle of a skirmish by the time we can get that info."

"Understood, Neon. We'll be needing all the data we can get." Blake and her apprentice nodded to each other as they prepared to sign off.

"Statera obtineri iterum"

Alright. Time to check up on Adam and _his_ associates.

* * *

"Winter, are you sure this graveyard has what we're looking for?"

"The spirits here prefer the term, 'Cemetery'. And, yes. This is the site we want. Just give me a moment to talk to the souls here." Weiss nodded at her sister's words, being sure to ready her weapons to shoot down any grave robbers. She had snapped the neck of one when she walked in, shooting another shouldn't be a problem.

Winter reappeared after ten minutes, "Alright, sister. The spirits have agreed to helps us in our quest. We just need to meet up with that herald of the Grimm Queen or whatever, and we can get the golems ready."

Weiss nodded, "Alright, Winter. I trust you." Her gaze shifted around, getting a feeling of unnerving. "I think there's someone watching us… Someone in the physical plane…"

"Duck!"

Weiss did as she was advised, narrowly dodging a sniper round that was aimed at her head.

"Think you handle the man?" Winter asked.

Weiss nodded, Staubblatt at the ready, one with wind rounds, the other axe with ice rounds. "Now, where is the bastard?"

"Language." Winter reprimanded, "He's one-eighty meters to the east. I have no idea how he can see through the fog, but it may have something to do with his semblance."

"You try to get nearby him, analyze his weapon, and report back. I'll try to find a way to flank him." Weiss replied.

"Oh, so now _you're_ in charge?" Winter shot her sister a glare that Weiss ignored.

"When it comes down to combat? -Yes." Weiss replied in the same tone of voice as her ghostly companion.

Winter uttered a cross between a sigh and a growl as Weiss dodged another shot. "Fine. But I'll be haunting you during your first time." She smirked.

Weiss muttered something that sounded familiar to 'pervert', as she kept making her way towards the target by dodging, weaving, and ducking behind gravestones.

As she slowly made her way towards the sniper, Winter got the info for her. "He's some bastard named Felix Apfelsine, uses assault rifles. Crazy asshole betrayed his only partner, and stole his hook sword-sniper." She analyzed.

"Alright, any idea as to _why_ he's attacking?" Weiss asked as she tumbled towards another gravestone.

"Give me a moment. Just try to stay alive." the ghost responded.

"What a concept…" Weiss muttered. 'Just one-fifty more meters to go…'

"Okay, apparently he was hired by a rival dust company. All he has to do is bring back your head, and he gets paid." Winter reported. "We have two options: One; we try to buy him off, and go after his employer…" She trailed off.

"'Option two' Winter?" Weiss pressed. 'a hundred meters.'

"We kill him and send his eyeball to the bastard who hired him." Winter replied darkly.

'fifty meters.' "I'm down for that. I just gotta get closer." Weiss responded.

"Thankfully, his stolen sniper isn't good at close range. Get within ten meters, and he'll have to resort to either the sword function, or his sidearm." Winter observed.

"Well, I have about fifteen meters to get to that range, so I'll have to get back to you on that."

"You _do_ remember that you can use your dust rounds for defense, right?" Winter asked in a sarcastic tone.

"Tch, I gotta conserve a bit." Weiss replied, 'ten meters until his sniper is useless…' "Besides, he probably doesn't know about them, so it gives me the element of surprise."

"Hey, you broad! Who're you talking to? The dead bodies?" Felix laughed, clearly enjoying himself. "I'd think someone living would be more interesting to talk to. Or at least be more attractive!"

Winter growled, "I'll be right back…" She disappeared under the ground. Thankfully, Weiss was in the range where Felix had to switch to his sidearm for combat.

Felix had fired off several shots, with Weiss dodging each one in rapid success, "So, you're fast enough to dodge point blank gunfire." He noted. The mercenary discarded his gun, transforming his sniper into its dual hook swords.

'Tch, leave it to Winter to not know that this thing is two swords instead of one.' She brought out Staubblatt, and readied herself for a fight.

The two engaged in combat, trading blow for blow, clashing blades, and constantly pressing for the advantage. It was a stalemate until Felix used a knife to stab Weiss in the stomach.

"Gah!" She screamed. She brought her voice down to a murmur, "Winter, whatever you're doing, hurry up." She clenched the wound tightly.

"Sister, switch your axes to the electricity, then lodge them into the ground!" Winter called frantically.

"Wha?"

"Just do it! Trust me!" She pleaded.

Weiss did as she was told, sending volts of electricity into the ground. "What? You were hoping that there would be some water there so you could shock me or something? Don't make me laugh!" Felix laughed despite what he said.

Weiss didn't say anything. Her focus was on the ground beneath the mercenary. It was cracking, almost being dislodged. As if something was clawing its way out of it. "What the? How in the world!?"

Felix was panicking. He was being dragged down by several corpses grabbing at his lower body. His efforts to free himself were rendered all for naught as one of the bodies grabbed his weapons and threw them away. He screamed in agony. He screamed in pain. His screams were muffled as the dead bodies had dragged him down far enough to grab his neck and cover his mouth. His shield being rendered useless as the corpses reached over and started gnawing on his face in a rather gruesome display.

"Well," Winter continued.

"That was a thing." Weiss finished.

"They agreed to help in a similar way in the future. You just have to tell me if you need it, and I'll relay the message to them." Winter explained.

"'They' drag the victim underground?" Weiss asked.

"No. They get dragged to hell." Winter replied. She motioned to the exit. "Come on, we should get some food before we meet up with the other resistance fighters."

* * *

 **To be continued…**

 **AN: So… If you want to know, this one is a two-parter. Keep in mind that I write these in advance though, so as to have a chapter to fall back on if I have writer's block and need a critique to give me some advice.**

 **Fun facts… Uh, Emerald and Mercury aren't meeting up with Ruby. They're dealing with someone. As for who, I cannot say. If you can guess who it is (And I guarantee that it ISN'T an OC), bonus points to you.**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own RWBY, but I own a shirt with one of the show's logos on it.**


	10. The Shade: Thorn edition

_When the Darkness fights back, the light intensifies. The light blinds those who wish to find the truth. Unfortunately, the shadows cover the truth. But if you look carefully enough, you can see it as well. You won't see the color of the rose that is in front of you, but you should know…_

 _That rose is white, but be careful about its thorns._

* * *

Mercury and Emerald walked into the building. They were supposed to meet another group here, but it seemed as if the Vale police got there first. They each had a tied up group of what appeared to be ninjas nearby each of them.

So much for their 'never been caught' reputation.

Then again, they had the latest in Atlas tech, and seemed to be too skinny for a normal person.

Probably androids. Shouldn't be a problem.

"Grah!"

Or maybe not.

Mercury and Emerald were being forced into a corner, with Emerald's semblance being rendered useless on non-sentient foes, she was at a disadvantage. Mercury's 'broken leg' tactic was rendered useless due to his opponents being robotic.

The twenty-four androids converged on the two thieves.

"I think we need to try a different strategy!" Mercury called, retracting his kneecap turrets.

"Oh, you 'think'!" Emerald yelled, she was already irritated at having to retrieve her weapons that had gotten disarmed earlier.

"Yeah! We could use some help right about now." He called out, narrowly evading the energy blast shot by one of the androids, "Woah!" He wiped his forehead, "Call someone! Call Neo! Call Cinder! Call Roman of all people!" He kicked one of the robots that had charged him, "Call Ruby!"

"We can't! These bastards are jamming the signal!" Emerald panicked as she tried to bring out her scroll to call the young girl, but found it to be futile. "We'll need a different method of messaging her!"

Mercury thought for a moment, and was struck by realization, "We'll need to cause enough destruction to attract a paladin and-"

"ARE YOU CRAZY?" Emerald yelled, tearing off the head of another robotic knight with her chains, "IT'LL DESTROY THE PLACE!"

"Exactly, and what follows destruction? - Panic." Mercury winked.

Emerald got the message. Time to get the help of their… _Other_ allies.

* * *

Several explosions were heard off in the distance, from there, a girl eating a healthy meal consisting of turkey sandwich, a chicken salad, a packet of almonds, and a bottled iced tea.

"Interesting choices, there sis."

Weiss rolled her eyes, "I need the protein, Winter."

Winter rolled her eyes back at the living girl, "Nevertheless, we must remain diligent."

"Then you watch the news, while I read a paper." Weiss replied, as she got a newspaper out of her bag that she picked up earlier. 'Hmm… The Stallions defeated the Junglecats in the annual football championship.'

"Sister! The news!" Weiss looked to where Winter was pointing. Snatching the remote control from the counter, she increased the volume on the television.

"This just in! There seems to be several explosions in the street! The police have reported to capturing several Ten Kit Empire members, and are currently engaged in pursuit of two potential associates of the criminal empire and… Wait, this just in! The authorities are releasing an atlas-military Paladin!" Weiss watched as the two thieves started to utilize various dodging techniques to make the mech hit various objects.

"Hmm, I like their tactics. Evading hits and forcing the giant mech to cause collateral damage is sure to put Atlas tech in a rather unflattering light." Winter noted.

Weiss wasn't interested in that. Rather, she was interested in _who_ was doing the running.

Their hair seemed to resemble some of the people from Ruby's family photo that was placed on her bedside.

"Winter, do they look… _Familiar_ to you?" Weiss asked.

"Yes…" Winter observed. "They are familiar indeed."

Winter motioned to the door, "We should help them."

"What? Why should we help them?" Weiss exclaimed.

Weiss noticed the odd looks she was getting. She simply took her food, and left the building.

* * *

Ruby was with Cinder. They were waiting for Mercury and Emerald's progress inside a small Motel.

Cinder indulged herself a bit by telling the front desk that she was meeting up with her daughter. She still felt uncomfortable being unable to actually _get_ Ruby to call her any variation of the word 'mother' though.

"My Queen," Cinder's right eye twitched as Ruby exited the restroom, "It appears that Emerald and Mercury are having… _Difficulties_ with their mission."

Cinder turned her head to the left, "How so?"

Ruby then used her scroll to forward the newsfeed to Cinder's scroll. Putting the thought of as to _why_ her surrogate daughter was watching the news while in the restroom away, she noticed the feed of Emerald and Mercury running from a large paladin, using dodging techniques to trick the large mech into breaking public property and such.

Thankfully, they were masked so they wouldn't be so easily identified.

"They seem to be needing assistance, shall I deploy the White Fang-"

Cinder cut her off, "No. The White Fang are needed elsewhere. You go and assist them."

Ruby was about to question why, but decided against it. She grabbed Rending Thorn and started towards the door. "I will not fail you, my Queen." The door closed behind the assassin.

"Be careful, my sweet daughter." Cinder prayed solemnly. Unbeknownst to her, Ruby had heard her.

"... I will… Mother." Ruby's emotionless grey eyes gained a bit of it's sparkle back.

* * *

Emerald and Mercury were running out of buildings to hide in. Several buildings were being torn apart in their efforts to escape the large mech. Fortunately for the city, they were all abandoned.

Unfortunately for the duo, the buildings were abandoned. No getting any grimm to show up.

The paladin had started using its weaponry early in the chase, launching missiles, firing 50 cal bullets, deploying buzzsaw blades, and (for some reason,) spraying them with Isidro brand juice.

"Oh, yuck! It's in my hair!" Came a whine.

"Shut it Mercury. We have bigger things to deal with than your hair!" Emerald replied.

"I disagree!" Mercury argued.

"Shut up." Emerald replied.

"Ugh, that copter just _won't_ let up!" Mercury complained, evading a set of buzzsaws.

Emerald ducked behind a car to avoid the bullet storm that was aimed at her, "We can't keep moving forever! As long as that copter keeps following us, we can't get away!"

Mercury shot another buzzsaw out of the air, "Any suggestions?"

Almost as if the universe heard him, a blast came from a far off rooftop and encased the rotors in ice. The pilot's and passengers' panicked screams filling the air as the airborne vehicle started careening towards them.

A flash of red moved them out of the way and into a building.

The flash happened to be Ruby.

"Squirt!" Mercury exclaimed, "Am I glad to see you! How'd you knock down the copter?"

Ruby looked at Mercury for a moment, "I just got here. What do you mean 'How did I knock down the helicopter?'"

Emerald looked startled, as did her partner, "But, if you didn't," She looked to the direction that the helicopter crashed, "Who _did?_ "

Their questions were placed on hold as the paladin crashed into the building they were taking shelter in.

The odd thing about it, was the person on top of it, relentlessly hitting it with hatchets that were enhanced by ice dust.

"Ice Queen?" Ruby was shocked. Never had she seen Weiss going all out like this. She'd typically take a support role, Usually opting to enhance their team's attacks with her glyphs and dust.

"Fall?" Weiss was startled, she thought it was a coincidence that Ruby had the two criminals on a picture with her, maybe at some kind of event that she attended or something. She wasn't expecting her to actually _know_ them.

"You know this chick, squirt?" Mercury questioned.

"My name is Weiss, and YES SHE KNOWS ME!" The white haired girl screamed, "AND I COULD USE SOME HELP HERE!"

"Tch, snow bitch is right," Emerald observed, "We gotta bring this thing down, or it won't stop." She unleashed her weapons, using the chains in an attempt to trip up the mech.

"Ugh, I hate it when you're right," Mercury groaned. He started to blast at the joints with his blast boots, "But, whatever."

Ruby merely grunted as she set about her rapid slash technique.

"This won't work sister," Winter called worryingly. Weiss narrowly avoided one of the arms of the advanced mech.

Winter was met with a glare from Weiss, "What do you suggest then?" The younger girl asked with venom in her voice, ignoring the odd stares that were sent her way.

Winter shot a glare at her sister, "You know what to do."

Weiss nodded. She reached into her satchel and pulled out some yellow dust. "Cover me! I have a plan!"

Mercury and Emerald turned to Ruby. "We'll be dead if she doesn't." The red girl reasoned.

The duo simply shrugged. They started to smash and slash at their mechanical foe.

They were knocked back as their aura finally gave out. The paladin readied a final blow until Ruby appeared in front of it, slashing off the mech's arm.

"Alright!" "Way to go!" The duo congratulated Ruby on successfully downing the giant mech.

Then the stub started to glow a bit.

Emerald noticed first. Her eyes widened in horror as she saw what was happening.

Mercury noticed next, mouth agape at the sight he was seeing.

Ruby flinched, feeling fear for the first time in years.

The glowing end started pulsating, wires emerged from its slashed stub, latching itself onto the nearby metal debris, smashed up cars, and metal support beams. The mech reconfigured the new material into a new arm.

Emerald started, "Ohh…"

"Shit." Mercury finished.

"Ice Queen! Whatever you're going to do, do it now!" Ruby ordered with malice.

"That's just unfair!" Mercury complained.

"Done!"

Weiss had loaded the yellow dust into Staubblatt, pushing one end of the blade into the ground. The electrical current flowed through the ground.

The ground began to crack open, undead hands reaching up towards the mech. "WHAT THE FUCK?"

The voice came from the mech. The 'head' of it opened up, revealing a pilot that was wearing standard issue Atlas armor. The pilot jumped from the cockpit, attempting to escape the doomed mech.

The hands started to shift their target and grabbed the pilot by his legs, restraining him. "No! NOO!" He screamed in agony.

He was being dragged down, still screaming for help, desperately clinging onto an old piece of scrap metal that was protruding out of the floor. Weiss walked up to the man, the other blade in hand. "Y-you're Weiss Schnee! Wh-Why are you doing this?"

Weiss started loading a bullet round into her hatchet, "Because I don't appreciate people attacking my teammate's friends."

"Wh-what?"

"And because the light killed my sister. I don't appreciate that." She finished both her sentence, and loading her bullet round.

"Boo! Motherfucker." Winter appeared to the man and, by extension, Ruby and her friends.

"Ah!" The man's grip weakened, and he got dragged down into the abyss.

Weiss leveled her gun at the man's head, "When you get to hell, tell my father: 'Fuck you.'" She fired.

Mercury, Emerald, and Ruby all seemed frightened, shocked, and awed respectively. Weiss turned to them as Winter faded out of their sight.

"Are we done here?"

* * *

The group were heading to their proper destination, swapping stories about what their motivations were for joining this side of the revolution. They were five blocks from their destination.

"Your sister was killed by a hunter?" Mercury asked.

Weiss nodded, "More specifically, my _father,_ " She scowled at the word, "Hired him to try and scare her off at all costs…" She trailed off.

"I'm sorry to hear about that." Emerald consoled.

"Don't be, you weren't the asshole who killed her." Weiss brushed off. Four blocks to go.

"What was his name?" Mercury asked.

"I think it was Griffith or something. I don't remember his last name, but it was probably something stupid."

"Griffith. Griffith Undertone." Ruby replied from the front, "I got a chance to try and kill the bastard, but some girl killed him… Though, now that I look back on it, the weapon she used seems kinda familiar." She trailed off.

"Shame, I was hoping to get some payback." Weiss grumbled. Three blocks.

"Whatever. Bastard thought threatening my Queen was a smart idea." Ruby mumbled.

Emerald winced. After a long night of drinking, Cinder had drunkenly told Emerald why she hated it when Ruby referred to her as 'Queen'. She found it depressing. After Cinder's hangover, Emerald had offered to try and help out Cinder.

She told her not to interfere unless she wanted severe burns.

Two blocks. "Queen?" Weiss questioned.

Emerald placed her hand on the heiress' shoulder to hold her back for a while and explained to her what that entailed.

One more block.

"Hurry up!" Ruby and Mercury were halfway at the end of the block, with impatient looks on their faces.

The two girls turned their slow walk into a light jog to catch up to the other two.

"What were you two talking about?" Mercury asked.

Emerald just glared back. That seemed to shut him up. "We're here to meet up with the members of the Ten Kit Empire, why are you here Ice-cess?"

Weiss had a look of confusion for a moment, until she realized that Emerald was referring to her, "I'm here to meet up with Salem's herald to get golem bodies for my spectral companions." She replied.

"Ah." Emerald noted.

"You don't seem surprised that Salem exists. What's up?"

"We have a…" Mercury trailed off, as if he were searching for the correct word, "Contact with her as well. 'Our allegiances align.' is what our boss says."

"Alright, we're here. Our contacts should be arriving sometime soon-"

Ruby got cut off by Weiss, "-There they… Are?"

The new arrivals looked familiar.

In fact, they looked, _too_ familiar.

"Weiss? Ruby?"

"Yang? Blake?"

 _ **To be continued...**_

* * *

 **AN: Well, we have a cliffy here. Next chapter:** _ **The Stinger edition.**_ **White Rose I guess? Eh, probably not. I doubt Ruby would appreciate Winter spying on her and Weiss… Horizontally dancing… Wow, that was a weird euphemism… Or who knows?** _ **This**_ **Ruby might not care at best, or find it kinky at worst.**

 **I have a weird brain.**

 **And** _ **that**_ **reason is why this thing is rated 'M'. Because of my weird brain. Anyways, I have a poll on my profile, vote if you want to. It has nothing to do with** _ **Bloody Evolution**_ **, It's all about** _ **Aftermath**_ **.**

 **Disclaimer: RWBY Own Don't I.**


	11. The Shade: Stinger edition

_You send your men. They will not find anything in the light. The light blinds those who seek the truth. The shadows cover it. But the shadows don't try to trick the eyes, light does. The sounds surround you. It is buzzing. You try to find it, but listen, don't touch._

 _Beware, that bee is no bee. It is a wasp._

* * *

Blake had gone out to try and find Adam. The White Fang were good associates with the Ten Kit. How nobody realized that 'Ten Kit' was an anagram of ''Kitten' was beyond her but, whatever.

Traveling from rooftop to rooftop was a rather quick and convenient way to travel. She was traveling to a rather bleak section of the city.

This section was familiar. She grew up here. The slums were always weird. There was the White Fang, your typical con men, the Umbra cult members, the corrupt cops, and that one rapist that nobody could quite kill.

Well, until now anyways.

Blake was in her typical attire for going out. A skin tight black jumpsuit, a mask that covers her entire face, and a small headband to give the illusion that her ears were fake. The voice modifier coupled with her bound breasts would make someone who didn't pay attention to details think she was a feminine man.

She was dressed to kill.

She had sent out a group of her top soldiers to meet up with the representatives of what was being called 'The Queen's Blaze', and she had yet to hear from them. Stalking by the warehouse the group was supposed to report to before getting to the next location for further orders, she found that the Vale city police, and that Atlas military were present.

None of the members would talk. While that was mostly due to the high wages they got, none were willing to face _The Room_ that reportedly made the likes of Adam Taurus vomit.

A flash of red caught her eye, and she saw a woman. An woman with dark flowing hair stepping out of a portal. She had an old White Fang grimm mask on. She noticed the woman's mouth.

A cheshire smile. She motioned for Blake to follow her.

Alright, she wants a chase, Blake will give her a chase.

* * *

"She requires several golems to host the spirits of her undead army," Yang reported into her comm, "We need the supplies from a certain person…"

" _This person… This, Hardy. You believe she will have the supplies necessary to create the golems?"_ the person on the other comm asked.

"Yes, she will have the supplies to do so."

" _And the portal?"_

"All in due time, mother. All in due time."

* * *

The leader of the Ten Kit empire can't be losing a parkour race. Especially not to this chick.

Ugh, portals were cheating! Well, if she could use _her_ abilities, so could Blake.

She used the whip function of her weapon to pull and propel herself even further at a quicker pace.

'What is she planning?' Blake pondered, 'Where is she leading me?'

Her questions would have to wait as a large paladin was dropped nearby the place where she sent some of her elite members to.

She stopped in her tracks, contrary to popular belief, she wasn't heartless. She cared for her 'Ninjas', as they were called, and wanted them to all live to see what they were all working towards.

A world of freedom.

She was shaken out of her thoughts when an airship came along and dropped off a large number of footsoldiers. The paladin having been led through the city to another location, she took off to ensure that her ninjas wouldn't be harmed.

* * *

"She WHAT?" Yang was irritated to say the least, she needed Hardy to ensure that the Grimm and non-grimm could co-exist, but with her running off to attack a paladin, that plan would have to go on hold.

" _It is as I said daughter, she went after a paladin. I can transport you nearby her location if you need to-"_

"Do it." Yang quickly replied, deciding to ignore Raven's comments about interrupting.

" _Alright, be careful. First timers typically get disoriented, and grimm get severely weakened. I don't know what it will do to a half-grimm."_

Yang simply ignored the warning, "Just get me there. I can handle this." She replied curtly.

" _Very well. I can get you to_ _ **my**_ _general location, it'll be up to you to catch up to her."_

"Alright, shouldn't be a problem. After all, I _burn_."

* * *

The new troopers were going nuts. The ninjas were literally being torn apart.

The rage in Blake's heart roared. Nobody touched the ninjas. _Nobody_.

With an arrow imbedded with lightning dust drawn, she launched it at one of their heads.

And a robotic arm reached out and caught it out of the air.

The dust was absorbed. Blake needed to change tactics.

She charged in, Fortuna Nero swinging. She was fortunate enough to cut down three or four of them, before one of their robotic hands latched onto her arm.

"Arrgh!"

She nearly dislocated her arm there.

Then there was a flash of fire.

* * *

"GET OVER HERE!"

A claw shot out and latched into the knight, and pulled it in close.

Yang's fire may not be able to hurt the android, but the hellfire bullets in her gauntlets were a different story. For anyone else, they would eat away at the soul, quickly depleting aura. But against anything that lacked a soul, it would be the equivalent of a large couch falling on your face.

Her fire had burned off most of her usual outfit,

The robot got blown apart.

"Alright, now where is that… Blake?"

"Shi?"

The army of knights surrounded the duo. The two of them looked at each other, and nodded.

* * *

Unbeknownst to the duo, the knights had cameras on them. The video feed was being sent to another location.

"Interesting…" The large man in front of the monitors observed, "Olive, take note of a 'Blake' and a 'Long'." He commanded, "We now have a name for this… 'Rebellion'"

"Yes sir! Right away sir!" Olive replied, frantically running to fulfill her superior's demand.

The man chuckled to himself, "Well Ozpin, looks like you can't deny my army's entrance to your city after all. _I'm_ your only hope of winning this war."

* * *

To say that Yang and Blake were tearing the knights up would be an understatement. Despite neither being at full power, they were able to eliminate the robots in rapid succession. Robot limbs, and heads, were raining from the skies and littering the streets.

They finished the last one, "Alright 'Hardy', I think we ought to get moving to meet up with our associates now."

Blake nodded, "We don't have much time to waste, I saw a paladin running around the place where some of mine were supposed to meet up with me. Thankfully, we have a backup area to report to."

"We should head there then" Yang nodded, "Ray! Portal!" She called.

A dark red portal opened in front of them, and the duo walked through.

* * *

After several hours of discussion, the black and yellow duo found themselves walking towards two familiar people.

"Weiss? Ruby?"

"Yang? Blake?

* * *

"Keep those silver eyes off me." Yang half-demanded half-requested.

"Silver? They're grey, Shi Long." Ruby replied, "Get your eyes checked."

"Ruby, she's right." Weiss' eyes widened, "They went from grey to silver!"

"What? I could've sworn…"

"What's the deal with silver eyes anyways?" Mercury questioned.

"Simply put, grimm will be paralyzed at best, and annihilated at worst. Imagine what the effect would be for me and Salem if she were to unleash that power on us." The herald replied with a shudder.

"We… Might be able to find a way to… _Alter_ that color, to possibly lower the power of it." Emerald muttered under her breath.

Blake's ears twitched, "How?"

"Tch, damn ears." Emerald retorted, "Okay, I heard, _heard_ , not 'know' that if there's an aura transfer between a mortally wounded person, and someone they're close to, then the eyes of the wounded person could change to that of the other person." She explained.

"Well, we can't hurt the little twerp, Cinder would _kill_ us if we did." Mercury noted.

"Hey! What do you mean by 'Twerp', Mercury?" Ruby demanded.

"N-nothing Rubes." He stammered.

Winter was watching the entire conversation, and trying her best to not laugh her ass off.

"Yeah, I thought so, Merc." Ruby replied with venom.

"Tch, whatever. I'm here about the golems, herald, do you have them or not?" Weiss demanded more than asked.

"We have the materials prepared, we simply need to build them." Yang explained, "How many do you need?"

Winter relayed the number to Weiss.

"One thousand!?" Yang questioned.

"How did you…"

Tell your ghost of a sister to make absolutely sure that that's the actual number!" Yang half-screeched.

"She can see me?" Winter questioned.

"Of course I can see you! I'm dead too!"

"Shut it you two!" Ruby demanded, "We're here to get ready for the revolution!" She seethed, "Yang! How long until the golems are ready?" Her eyes flashed from silver and then back to grey for a brief moment.

"Tch, they should be done by the time the tournament starts. Blake, how about you and _your_ army?"

"They're at the ready, but some of them need medical attention." Blake reported, "The White Fang should be able to get the weapons and dust needed for their supplies."

"Good." Ruby noted, "We also have some other students that are on our side, Merc, Em!" She called, "How come the plans for your infiltration?"

Emerald replied first, "We're officially registered as Haven students, that virus you planted should be able to let us rig some matchups." She reported.

"What other teams are on our side anyways?" Mercury questioned.

"From the reports, we have CFVY, SSSN, and FNKI." Blake replied.

"Alright, we're all set." Ruby replied.

"So begins Liuxe Geming." Weiss declared.

"Time for The Noctis to rise." Blake said.

"This will be the day we open up the doors" Yang decided.

"Keep moving forwards, This will be the day we've waited for."

 _ **To be continued…**_

* * *

 **AN: Sorry for the short action, but I need to get to the tournament, so a time skip is in order. If there's any questions, or concerns, leave a review, 'kay? Oh, and keep in mind that I write these about three chapters in advance, so if you try to come up with a suggestion, I can get on it, and make the changes necessary to accommodate it if it's good enough.**

 **As per usual, I don't own RWBY.**


	12. The fruit tree

_Some fight the fight to defend the light, others enter combat to restore balance, let us see those who wish to defend the light. However, they are not playing defense... They are playing offense._

* * *

The Vytal tournament was only a few weeks away, and team JNPR were getting ready to plan out their strategy.

"Have you heard from any of the other teams lately?"

"No clue Jaune," Pyrrha replied, "Last I heard, team RWBY were heading into the city or something."

"I heard Ruby was visiting some family or something..." Ren trailed off.

"Perhaps," Pyrrha noted, "Did you see the news? Apparently some Atlas robot tech got destroyed."

"Yeah, their new Paladin mech was destroyed by a small group of terrorists."

"I heard that it was called the 'Heavy Zepol', and that it could take the parts from discarded or wrecked equipment and vehicles and turn it into its own parts." Jaune mentioned.

"That sounds like it could be something that could turn bad if it fell into the wrong hands." Ren said.

"It is." Pyrrha replied, "That's why they have it piloted by Atlas soldiers, and they have to input several eleven-character passwords to activate it."

"That sounds a bit overkill for security sake."

"Well Nora, if you had that sort of firepower, wouldn't you want to make sure that it couldn't be hacked into?"

"Point there, Renny." Nora conceded. "Hey, what happened to the pilot anyways?"

"Nobody knows. There was only a splotch of his blood on the floor of a destroyed building, but his tracer hasn't been found yet." Ren replied, reading from an article.

"Dang, that sounds ominous."

"You got that right, Pyrrha." Jaune noted, "Think that grimm queen chick had anything to do with it?" He joked.

"No. From the stories I heard through Yang, that sort of thing isn't her style." Pyrrha replied with a shudder. "She almost seemed as if she was personal friends with the demon."

"Tch, I doubt it." Ren replied, "Anyways, we need to keep working on our strategy-"

" _Would Team JNPR please report to headmaster Ozpin's office."_

"Oh great. Nora, what did you break this time?" Jaune asked, with an exhausted tone of voice.

"I didn't break anything!" She said, offended.

The others simply stared at her.

"Okay, maybe I broke one of Cardin's bones…"

"Was it his legs?" Pyrrha asked, with a resigned tone of voice.

"What? No! It was his coccyx." The viking replied, "Just because I said it that _one_ time doesn't mean I want to do it _all_ the time!" She countered.

"I can vouch for that. She often switches what bones she wants to break, but people find it funny when she targets the legs for some reason." Ren said helpfully.

"That's not helping Ren." Jaune replied as he and his team arrived at the elevator to the headmaster's office.

"Well Jaune, let's figure out what headmaster Ozpin wants, he probably didn't figure out that one thing…" Pyrrha said, she was well aware that Jaune had cheated Beacon, when Cardin tried to use that information to blackmail her leader, she was rather pissed off.

He stopped when Jaune saved his sorry ass in the forest.

* * *

 _A few weeks ago_

"C'mon Jauney boy! Those Rapier Wasps won't deliver themselves!"

"Hrgh! It would be easier if I had some help!" Jaune responded, he placed another box down, "I also did your assignment for you."

Had Cardin been paying attention, he would have heard Jaune call him 'a lazy prick'.

"What do you need those wasps for anyways?" Jaune asked, rubbing some stinger medication on his face.

Cardin's eyes darkened, "Oh, you'll see…"

Jaune looked down from where CRDL was hiding, his eyes widened. "No…"

"Augh!"

"Yang!" Ruby called, recognizing the voice.

A moment later, and Yang came crashing through the clearing, and landed in a bush. Some non-grimm creatures came out.

The beast the locals had taken to calling 'The Muu Chono'. They were a large pack of wolves, all of which seemed to also be able to wield dust. While it wasn't unusual for the Muu Chono to attack humans, they typically went after soulless creatures like the grimm.

"Team! Let's get out of here!" Cardin ordered, only to trip over the rapier wasp box and accidentally release them.

"Ahh! Get them off! Get them off!" The other members were being stung all over while Jaune had jumped down to aid his team in pushing back the wolves.

"Hiya!" He swung his sword and began to cut down the wolves one by one. Not even Weiss could land any damaging blows, considering she used dust rounds, it was to be expected. She also seemed to be arguing with herself.

The others weren't having much luck with their ranged attacks either, as having been imbedded with dust, the Chono were essentially all but immune to dust-based attacks.

Jaune noticed two chono creeping their way to team CRDL, taking immediate action, he threw his shield at them. The resulting ricochete rendered both wolves unconscious.

The shield returned to his hand, as Cardin crawled to the peak of the small hill he and his team were using as a hiding spot, he caught Jaune's glare. It was about a quarter intimidating as Ruby's death glare. He knew if he revealed Jaune's secret, he would be sent to detention for both slander, and blackmail. Not to mention even _if_ he was believed, he would then face the humiliation of having been saved by an 'unqualified failure'.

Cardin was defeated, in both his ego, and his strength.

* * *

"What do you think attracted those wolves to us in the first place?"

"I don't know Jaune. Let's just be grateful that there weren't any lasting injuries." Pyrrha answered.

"Hmm, good point."

The elevator dinged.

"You wanted to see us headmaster?"

"Yes, miss Nikos." Ozpin replied, he gestured to the four seats in front of him, "Please have a seat," He noticed the beads of sweat on the students' foreheads "Don't worry, none of you are in trouble." He assured.

The four of them took their seats in order of their team name.

A new man appeared in the room, a somewhat tired one at that.

"Team JNPR, meet Qrow Branwen, a highly experienced hunter, and personal friend of mine."

"It's very nice to meet you sir." Pyrrha greeted, holding her hand out.

"Tch." Qrow just brushed the hand away, "Whatever."

"Please forgive him, he hasn't been the same since his nieces went missing almost ten years ago." Ozpin explained.

"I'm sorry to hear that." Jaune said.

"Heh, don't be." Qrow replied, "It's not like you're responsible for what happened."

"Well, what are we here for?" Ren asked.

"Right," Ozpin pressed a button, and several reports came up on the holo-projector. "As you've probably heard, these terrorists, these 'Noctis' terrorists have been increasing the number of their attacks. Both the Atlas and Vale military are stretched thin, so we need one of our top teams to investigate."

" _One_ of our Top teams?" Nora questioned

"For some reason team," Ozpin cleared his throat, "Uh, the team led by miss Fall are unavailable." He glanced at Qrow, who seemed indifferent to the conversation as he was drinking from his flask, "Something about visiting family before the tournament."

Only Ren raised his eyebrow at Ozpin's wording, he was responded with Ozpin mouthing 'later.'

"So, what do you need us to do anyways?"

Ozpin sighed, the plan they had was supposed to be a last resort, "The council had an… Idea. To bring one of the strongest teams and grant them abilities that could help us turn the tide of the war."

"Wha-What do you mean?"

Qrow sighed, and resigned himself to his flask.

Ozpin continued, "There was an idea. An idea created by the council of Remnant. Called _The Lumo Radioj._ " Ozpin paused, got up, and walked towards his window.

Pyrrha was the first to speak, "Why are you telling us this?"

Ozpin sighed, "Students, we are in a deadlock with the enemy."

* * *

 **Okay, enough exposition. I'm tired, and I wrote this at… Like… 9:30… And I had posted like chapter 3 of** _ **Aftermath**_ **, and chapter 8 of this fic… Although now that this was typed up, it would have been chapter 11 or something.**

 **In short, JNPR vs RWBY is happening. And they'll get Atlas and Vale tech to…** _ **Try**_ **and even the playing field.**

 **Right, the disclaimer. Ahem: I do not own RWBY nor do I own the characters.**


	13. The Inititive

_The world is about to break. The Shadows have made their presence known, now it is time for the light to fight. But are they attacking, or defending?_

* * *

"This is our specialized tracking system that can sense a person's aura, detect whether or not they're doing something illegal, then utilize our orbital satellites to dispatch a task force to stop it, before it even happens. If worse comes to worse, we use our Orbital Remnant Flashbeam to annihilate the terrorist cell before they even become a problem."

Ironwood was dealing out his latest tech, the ORF, had power that could destroying an entire building, or easily snipe a single person with a bolt of energy. Provided that the target _had_ an aura, the tracking system could find anyone within seconds.

Pyrrha raised her hand, "Uh, sir? How is this going to help us against the grimm?"

James scoffed, "The grimm are mere children compared to these _traitors_. The Noctis apparently have the Umbra cult on their side, and our efforts of finding this 'Blake' man, and the 'She' kid."

"I thought the punishment came _after_ the crime." Jaune replied.

"We take the world _as it is_ , not how you, me, your partner, or anyone else would like it to be." He replied menacingly.

"Not very heroic, is it?" Jaune's eyes narrowed.

"Well, Ozpin said he found a silver-eyed warrior," the general scowled, "Turns out, her eyes were gray. Not silver."

"What's so special about silver eyes anyways?" Pyrrha asked.

"They could stop grimm in their tracks."

Jaune's eyes widened, "What? If there's some power like _that_ , we should find people with silver eyes to fight the grimm!"

"Unfortunately; women, and yes, it _has_ to be _women_ , with silver eyes are hard to come by. We need alternatives to our problem." He continued, "Silver eyes won't hurt the Noctis, so we need more power to fight back against them. If we can eliminate _them_ , we can defeat the grimm much more easily if we don't have to deal with these terrorists."

"And yet, you need an orbital cannon- I'm sorry, 'Flashbeam' to stop them?" Ren questioned.

"Yeah, that doesn't seem all too safe."

"Miss Valkyrie, we can target one single person with this weapon. It's not a weapon of war, it's a tool to achieve peace."

"Peace through fear, Jimmy."

"Branwen." Ironwood scowled, "Do you have something to share?"

"Yeah, I _do,_ " Qrow replied taking a swig from his flask, "Do you really think people are going to feel _safe_ if there's a giant space laser pointed at ALL of them?"

" _That's_ why we won't tell them."

Qrow laughed sarcastically, "Right… And when the people find out that-"

"They _aren't_ going to find out Qrow!" James rebuttled.

"It's inevitable! There's going to be a leak! People talk! Do you really think that the people who run your little op are going to keep their mouths shut?"

"YES! They would! We have very high security measures-"

"So did the Ten Kit ninjas! Are you saying that you're going to threaten torture on your employees?"

"Why do you have to fight me on this Qrow? It's a good idea!"

"They said the same things about your Zepol mechs, and one of them got annihilated by less than half a dozen people-"

"That was a miscalculation! It won't happen again!"

"Like your plan to herd the grimm all those years ago?"

"This has something to do with half your team getting killed on patch, doesn't it?"

"Don't you DARE bring that up! I lost-"

"Dammit Qrow, we don't have time to argue about how Yang and Ruby got killed there too!"

Qrow was silent for a moment, he glared at Ironwood. He started towards the door, not saying a word.

"Qrow…"

He kept walking.

"Qrow, I-I'm sorry, I was out of line and-"

Qrow turned back to face the general, "You're _damn_ right you were out of line. After all," He got into the elevator, "It wasn't _your_ family that got killed because of _your_ mistake."

The door closed. Ironwood sighed, and slumped down in his chair.

"What was that all about?"

"I believe I can explain Lie Ren." Ozpin said as he entered the room. "Those nieces I mentioned that he lost. They were killed on patch during a plan to herd them into a single location, then exterminate them." He sighed.

Ozpin was about to open his mouth when Ironwood cut him off, "It was supposed to go as planned. It was supposed to be simple. But fate had other plans." He lamented. "There was a pack of beowolves that separated from the main pack." He sighed, "They wandered nearby a stream. I got there, and I got pinned down… I saw Taiyang get stabbed by a beowolf's claw and tossed aside…"

"James, please." Ozpin placed his hand on Ironwood's shoulder, "Don't do this to yourself."

"Right, just… Just tell them the story if they want to hear it. I need some air."

* * *

Qrow was out on the balcony, gazing at the stars. He kept flipping a silver locket in his hand. It held two photos, one of his old team, and one of his two nieces. He sighed, "Why… Why did ya have to leave. This war… I just gotta… I gotta win. Maybe then, I'll see 'em again. Tai, Sum, Yang, and Rubes. Dammit, I miss them."

Unbeknownst to Qrow, Ironwood was listening in the entire time. "I'm sorry Qrow. I'm sorry it had to come to this…"

* * *

"Uptight. Wore a lot of white, and the fact that people called him 'General'?" Mercury asked, "Yep. It's him alright."

"Not good, not good. With Ironwood here, there's no doubt that he brought along his special android." Blake paused, "But, we might be able to find out whose aura he transferred into it."

Weiss entered the room, "I heard that his android was in the prototype stage about a decade ago."

"Back during the string of Atlas malfunctions." Ruby noted.

"Gah!" Mercury fell over on his chair, "Stop that! Ugh, you're worse than Emerald!"

"Whatever," Ruby rolled her eyes, "You remember those reports, right Blake?" The faunus nodded, "The Faunus Riots, Incendiary experiments going wrong, the Patch Massacre, the mass Umbra cult incarceration."

"Yes, we have to be careful. All of those were linked to _some_ major council member or direct associate."

"My Queen!" Ruby shifted closer to Cinder when she saw her enter the room, "It is nice to see you again. How was the conversation with the herald?"

'Ruby never asks me about what I do… Could she have…?' "It went rather well, my precious gemstone. She can complete her end of the plan soon. All we have to do is stall for time." Cinder turned to Mercury, "You remember your part of the plan, right?"

Mercury nodded, "Get the Malachites and Emerald, enter the tournament, cause some chaos. What's so hard to remember about that?"

"Just needed to make sure you remember. Emerald told me about what happened when miss Schnee here opened that portal." Cinder smirked.

"You'd piss your pants too if you saw what _I_ saw." He huffed.

"I was there, and I didn't feel a thing." Ruby replied.

"Yeah? Well, you're some kind of emotionless chick. You hardly count-"

"Emerald only flinched when the Ice Queen here shot the guy in the head point blank."

"Whatever."

* * *

"Ladies and Gentlemen, students from all over the world, and teachers from there as well. Do we have a spectacle for you today! We have team RWBY of Vale!" The crowd cheers at Doctor Oobleck's fast-paced introduction, "Versus… Team ABRN!" The Haven section of the crowd cheered harder. "Let's see what the randomizer will reveal…" The randomizer went on to create a 'randomly' generated terrain for the combatants to fight in.

The selected biomes were ones that team RWBY were expecting.

Urban and Ocean.

"Thanks mom…" Ruby muttered under her breath. Her eyes gaining a bit more of it's sparkle back.

"Alright, let's go!"

3…

2…

1…

* * *

 **AN: Ugh, this took a while. Read, Review, Follow, and Fave if you would be so kind. But, if you're looking for fun facts, here's one: Ruby's silver eyes won't become much of a problem in a later chapter. Remember Emerald's comment back in the flower edition? That's gonna come into play later.**

 **I guess I need a disclaimer here, huh? Sigh, All characters belong to Monty Oum and Rooster Teeth.**


	14. The first round

_There are only two things the light and dark can agree on: Family and Friends. However, one is willing to sacrifice, and the other is not. The light claim that it is for the greater good. The darkness asked one question: Was it worth it?_

 _The light has yet to answer, even after all these millennia…_

* * *

"FIGHT!"

Team RWBY quickly retreated into the urban environment, ready to use the destroyed buildings to set up several ambushes.

Team ABRN readied their weapons, and carefully traversed into the urban area.

"GET OVER HERE!" Arslan was caught off-guard by an incoming claw dragging her into an empty building.

"Ahh!" Arslan was beaten to the point that her aura was already nearing the yellow in mere moments.

"Ugh!" She was thrown out of the building, and out of bounds, eliminating her.

"RETREAT!" Reese quickly turned her pistols back into their hoverboard function and made her way back to their oceanic area, where they could at least have the superior range.

"Okay, Bolin!" Nadir got his teammate's attention, "It's obvious that they don't have good long-range weapons, seeing as they needed to take us in an ambush. All we have to do is wait 'em out."

Bolin nodded and smirked, "We can draw them out, and beat them from a distance. Good plan."

His smirked disappeared when Reese was forced out of the ring by a sniper shot that came from one of the windows on the other side. When he looked, he was treated to the pleasant sight of a fifteen year-old flipping him off.

"Classy." He remarked.

Both of the fighters were in the ankle-deep pool of water, fearing for their reputation. They hadn't even gotten a hit in!

"Hey, wait a moment…" Bolin realized, "Don't they have Weiss Schnee on their team?"

"Yeah, so - Electric dust! Quick! OUT OF THE WAT- AGGH!"

He could not get his order across, as several electrical rounds from Weiss' weapon brought their aura down to 25%.

"Ughh. That was fun…" Nadir replied sarcastically as the two of them fell to their knees.

Two arrows flew nearby their hands.

Nadir's eyes widened, "Oh…"

"Crap." Bolin lamented.

 _BOOM!_

"And in a landslide victory, team RWBY advances to the next round!" Port announced with enthusiasm.

"Indeed, Professor Port. Can you inform the audience as to what mistakes team ABRN made? Just because classes are out of session, doesn't mean we can't all learn something today."

"It's rather simple Professor Oobleck-"

"-Doctor."

"Bart. Team ABRN walked into an obvious trap. Even when prepared for a trap, you cannot be prepared for _what_ kind of trap you will have to deal with."

"You can never be too careful."

* * *

"And Team SSSN claims victory over team NDGO!"

After a hard fought bout, team SSSN were able to trap their opponents under several trees, effectively taking rendering them unable to continue.

"Team NDGO may have had the advantage in being able to gang up on their opponents, but when the tables are turned on them, it's another story…"

Sun and his teammates weren't interested in the prof's explanation for their victory, it was easy. Push them into the forest biome, and knock the trees down. They lost Sage and Scarlet in the fight, but they avenged him.

From where they came from, teamwork, is the key to victory.

"Tch, their explanation, as if these people actually _care_ about the stats. All people want to see is who wins and crap like that."

"I hear ya Neptune," Sun replied, "Ungrateful little pricks. Just want to see a flashy fight, and they get angry when the team they're rooting for loses."

"I think you're thinking of something else there," Sun replied, "but I just don't care. We're here for a different reason. _She_ should be here to-"

"The stars burn with intense shadows."

Sun turned to see a girl with black hair, "So, you're the famous 'Hardy' I've heard _so_ much about."

Blake smirked, "Expected someone more… Intimidating?"

"Intimidating?" Sun chuckled a bit, "Nah, we ready for this thing?"

"Plenty prepared." Blake replied, "Liuxe Geming goes down in the finals."

"This will be the day…"

"We've waited for. We know how the oath goes." Neptune replied sarcastically.

Blake rolled her eyes, "Glad to see that the infamous sarcasm from team SSSN isn't an exaggeration. My real name is 'Blake' by the way."

"Well, 'Blake'," Sun continued, "Let's keep moving forward…"

* * *

Team CFVY were waiting to face their opponents, and were in the middle of watching Team JNPR's fight with Team BRNZ. While the team were arguing about the names of their team attacks.

"And with that! Team JNPR advances to the next round!"

Velvet woke up from the sudden announcement, her head resting on Coco's shoulder.

"Wake up Vel," 'Vel' was Coco's affectionate nickname for Velvet, it always made the faunus girl blush, "We have work to do."

"Right, c'mon lovebirds." Fox motioned. The two girls blushed, and gathered their things. "JNPR won by having Nora hit them with her hammer, in case you were wondering."

* * *

"Wow, I can't believe that _worked._ "

"That Qrow guy was right. Distract them long enough, and they won't be able to react to the finishing blow." Jaune agreed.

"I'm just happy that we got advanced to the next round!" Nora replied bubbly.

"Indeed," Ren replied, he noticed a _Simple Wok_ , as well as team RWBY, "Let's eat."

"OH! Hey! Team RWBY!"

* * *

"Ugh, it's _her_." Weiss lamented.

"Please don't sit next to us, _Please_ don't sit next to us-" Blake's hopes were dashed when the other team sat next to them, "and she's sitting next to us."

"Hello!" Nora drew out the 'o', making it seem longer than it typically was.

Ruby muffled a groan, "Hello Nora." She faked a smile.

"So, fun tournament, huh?"

Yang's eyes narrowed, "Yes. _fun_." She stressed the last part, "We _were_ having a peaceful conversation."

"Ooh! Can we join?"

Winter noticed the discomfort that her sister was in, and facepalmed on her behalf.

"Uh, Nora." Pyrrha motioned, "I think they wanted to eat their lunch alone."

"How can they be alone if they're all together?" Nora asked innocently.

Team RWBY sighed, and motioned for team JNPR to sit down, knowing full well that they may as well have Nora joyful and slightly less annoying by inviting her, rather than have her be depressed and even more irritating if they didn't.

"Heh, sorry about barging in on your lunch like this." Jaune offered, sitting down.

"Don't mention it."

"No, really Weiss. We're really _really_ sorry." Pyrrha repeated.

"Not sorry enough to leave apparently…" Ruby muttered under her breath.

"What was that Rubes?" Nora asked.

"Nothing." She replied curtly.

"Oh, Okay!" Nora went back to her usual bubbly nature, and looked at the menu to decide what to order.

* * *

"Subject S is exhibiting rather high levels of stress."

"We can't let it stop us. Harvest another!"

"But sir! We already got one last week! If we get another, we could damage-"

"I don't give a _DAMN_ about the damage! Harvest. Another."

"... Yes sir…"

* * *

 **Okay, this took a while, because Google Docs kept freezing up on me. Telling me that there was an error in the file or some shit like that. It got annoying, so I had to rush this. So, I apologise if this chapter feels shorter than usual.**

 **I also had Yang ring-out Arslan for irony. If you don't get it, then check out what her weapon is, and remember who I based this version of Yang off of. You also may be wondering how Yang is able to compete, despite the fact that I stated that she has no aura. That will be explained next chapter.**

 **Neptune's comments may or may not reflect my views on the fandom of a certain internet show.**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own** _ **RWBY**_ **or its characters, yadda yadda yadda...**


	15. The Means

_The world is about to break into war. A battle between the heroic forces of darkness that strive to protect. And the light, that strives to show the world the outside terrors, but refuses to show the sins they have committed. The light refuses to answer for their crimes. They always claimed that "The ends justify the means."_

 _The darkness claimed "The means, to make the end matter."_

* * *

"The doubles round will be tricky…"

"Yang has her new aura simulator device, perhaps we send her in."

Weiss stared at Ruby quizzically, "And _how_ is THAT going to help us?"

Ruby rolled her eyes, "With her durability, she could defeat almost any foe," she replied curtly, "Plus, her… Hellfire, was it?" Yang responded with a nod, "Yes, hellfire bullets would rapidly deplete the opponent's aura, making the match end quicker."

"I see." Weiss noted, "But, with Winter, I could gain an edge of knowing exactly where our opponents are, know what their plan of attack, what weapons they're carrying, and so on." Weiss retorted.

"Winter can read minds?"

Weiss looked at Blake, "Well, more accurately, she can sense motives and intent. She _could_ read minds, but that would require the target to be unconscious."

Yang's eyes widened, "Did she-"

"Not really, no. But she _was_ able to sense your intent. It was why I was more comfortable talking with her when it was just the four of us." Weiss cut off.

"Okay, just wanted to confirm. I have some…" Yang looked up, then down for a moment, "'disturbing' memories, I'd rather not let people know of."

Blake walked in, having finished up her meeting with team SSSN, "We have several confirmations on various positionings within the tournament. Cinder will weed out the so called 'heroes', and make it so only Noctis members will fight them."

"And team CFVY?"

"Also in position. Coco and her team, plus Velvet, are locked and loaded."

Weiss raised an eyebrow, "Why single out those two?"

"They're in a relationship." Yang answered bluntly. She was met with stares, "What? I pay attention!"

"Nevertheless, we have to be careful. With Ironwood out there, we have no idea what he's sending in."

* * *

"So, we _know_ that they're here, and we haven't done anything about it?"

Ironwood rolled his eyes, "Yes, miss Nikos, we are aware of their presence. The only reason we aren't acting is to avoid a panic."

Pyrrha didn't looked convinced, "But, maybe we could question the terrorists! See if any one of them will confess!"

Ironwood looked irritated, "We've TRIED that, but every time we manage to capture one, they refuse to talk. Even WITH the threat of no food. Whatever this ' _Room_ ' thing is, it must not be pleasant if they're willing to risk starvation to avoid it."

"You STARVED prisoners?" Nora asked, shocked, "All those poor pancakes that never get eaten…"

The general rolled his eyes, "We don't STARVE them, we just cut down their rations they get at the end of the day." He muttered something about trying to bribe them with quality food and failing before turning back to team JNPR, "No, what we need to do, is to capture the two people we could name. A man who owns fake cat ears named Blake, and a heavily tattooed person who has the name 'She'."

Team JNPR looked at each other for a while, until Ren raised his hand, "I don't think we know of anyone by that kind of alias."

"We could ask team RWBY. They go into town often, maybe they know something- ack!"

Jaune was unable to finish as he was grabbed by Ironwood, "What did you say?" He asked. There was a crazed look in his eyes.

"T-Team RWBY… Th-They're a-" Jaune stuttered.

"Ruby…" The general muttered

"What about them?"

"No. The name 'Ruby'... That was the name of one of Qrow's nieces…" He trailed off.

Pyrrha was still eyeing the general, who had just dropped her leader on his butt.

"Maybe we could get them to meet Qrow? Their leader might really be the same Ruby he lost over a decade ago…" She suggested.

Ironwood's eyes widened, "NO!" He shouted, "We can't take the chance that she _isn't_ his niece. It would devastate him." He said worryingly.

"Translation," Glynda interjected, "He would kill you for trying to replace her." Ironwood glared at the newly arrived professor.

"It's just…" The general sighed, "I… I can't face him. Not after what I've done."

"Yer damn right ya can't." Qrow stumbled in drunkenly, "It's all your fault, ya smug bastard. They're _dead_. And it's all your fault."

Glynda looked worried, "Qrow, you're drunk. Stand down before you do something stupid." She paused, "Okay, something _more_ stupid."

"Don't you tell me ta calm down, Glynny. _Your_ team got to survive. I don't even know if Raven's still alive or not." He accused.

Glynda frowned. Qrow had been using that excuse to be an asshole for over a decade now. It was understandable at first, but now…

"That's it. I'm going to kill him." She growled.

She was stopped by Ironwood, "Don't. As much as I'd like to do it too, he's essential. He _is_ the reason Amber is safe, after all."

Glinda's jaw clenched, "Fine. But I swear, if he oggles my breasts _one more time…_ "

"You can break his legs. Nothing more." James said demandingly.

"... Why does it feel like something dramatic happens here every day?" Nora asked.

Ren shrugged.

"No idea. But, let's get onto these… 'Enhancements' the general was talking about." Pyrrha said, trying to change the subject.

"Ah, yes. Let's get on with it." James started walking towards a door, ready to show off his new toys…

* * *

"And with that, Team BEMM advances to the next round!"

Mercury, Emerald, and the Malachite twins had defeated their opponents, team LMON. In an ensuing victory that involved Mercury's magnetic soles, and Emerald's Semblance, they were able to eliminate Laau Jeuk, Melone Frost, Ozzy Silverstein, and Nitro Glycen.

It was easy considering that the arena was one that they were familiar with.

Well, THAT, and the fact that most of one part of the arena was metal, something Laau was ineffective against, and that the other half of the battlefield was a location where the twins could fight at their max made it very easy.

"Astounding! The leader of team LMON was helpless in the scrapyard arena, and Mercury Black moved _so_ fast, he was able to run on the metal parts! I dare say he may be as fast as you, Barty." Port noted.

"Doubt it," He readjusted his glasses, "and it appears that the next match will be… Team CFVY of Beacon Academy vs. Team BRCK of Atlas!"

"Introducing: Coco Adel, Fox Alistair, Velvet Scarlatina, and Yatsuhashi Daichi of Team CFVY!" Port announced, as the aforementioned team all walked onto the center arena and struck a pose.

Oobleck picked up the pace for the other team, "And on the illustrious team BRCK, we have: Disyerto Basin, Feore Ravensmith, Citrine Flare, and Barite Krotite!"

The biome randomizer started spinning, until it came across two arenas.

Swamplands and mountains. Team BRCK smirked. Rocky terrains were their bread and butter. How lucky they were to land _that_ on the randomizer. They could afford to show off a bit. Now, if they could just get there…

"FIGHT!"

Coco and Velvet opened fire. Velvet having already copied Coco's weapon in the span of thirteen seconds, they were forcing BRCK back to the swamp.

"Feore! Unleash hell!"

The burly man nodded, and unloaded his weapon from his back: a large cannon that also doubled as a furnace.

His heat rounds forced Fox to dodge while Yatsuhashi blocked a few with his large sword. He then noticed Disyerto loading some material into the canon.

 _BOOM!_

The projectile was a large sphere of molten glass, and it was headed straight for them.

Fox's quick reflexes and handiness with aura stopped it in its tracks, leaving a small blob of glass on the floor of the neutral arena.

CFVY retreated into the mountains.

Barite and Citrine smirked, it was their turn now.

"Oh, and it appears Barite Krotite of team BRCK is activating his semblance!" Professor Oobleck noted.

"Would you care to tell the viewers at home what it does, exactly?" Port asked.

"Gladly!" Bartholomew straightened his glasses, "Barite Krotite has a semblance that allows him to tap into the tectonic plates of the earth around him and force them together!" He rattled off.

Port raised an eyebrow at his friend's rather… Scientific description, "To put it in simple terms, he can create earthquakes! Team CFVY better be careful out there!"

Team CFVY didn't need to be careful. Yatsuhashi's sword was doing an excellent job slamming the oncoming boulders to team BRCK.

"Damnit! We need to get closer! 'Smith's cannon won't be able to hit them from here!" Citrine said, using his weapon's flintlock mode to dispatch of the oncoming boulders.

"No shit!" Feore replied. "We need a new plan of attack!"

Disyerto then opened his backpack, "I have a plan," His backpack then turned into a large mortar of sorts, "ATTACK!"

He launched several rounds to the enemy team. All of which were dodged, but not without trapping Fox behind several boulders.

"Unless if the rest of Fox's team can free him, the unlucky man is as good as eliminated!" Oobleck noted.

There was lots of sand surrounding both sides. From Feore's weapon drying out the swamp, and the massive blows from the both sides, it seemed as if team BRCK had the win in the bag. They stepped to Coco and Yatsuhashi, ready to finish them off-

"Hey wait," Citrine noticed, "Wasn't there a faunus girl with them too?"

Coco grinned, "You mean my girlfriend? She's right behind you."

The three members of team BRCK turned around to see the R of their team get dispatched of by a replica of Yatsuhashi's sword wielded by Velvet. She took a snapshot of his weapon before depleting him of his aura.

It was then that team BRCK realized: Team CFVY _wanted_ them to show off. Velvet then proceeded to bring the rest of the team to their red zones. All but Basin Krotite, who was busy trying to scamper away.

He ran into Fox.

* * *

"And in an _astounding_ turn of events, team CFVY has claimed victory!" Oobleck announced.

While the Atlas section of the crowd cheered considerably less than the rest of the crowd, the other sections were more than making up for it.

 _Especially_ the Beacon section.

Coco pecked Velvet on the cheek, "Told ya the plan would work." She said smugly.

Velvet blushed a bit. "Alright, alright. You don't have to rub it in, you know."

Coco's smile grew, "Aw, c'mon honey bunny! You know how I like being right!"

Velvet sighed, "Alright, I admit it sweetie."

"You need to work on your affectionate nicknames, bun'"

* * *

 **AN: A little crosshairs to add a little more lightheartedness. Anyways, the OC teams I placed in here for the sole purpose of getting rekt by the official characters.**

 **First up: Team BRCK (Pronounced 'Brick')**

 **Disyerto** **B** **asin: Basically a Filipino Gaara (if you can imagine that), A racoon faunus, Semblance: Sand creation (It depletes his energy though, so he keeps calorie bars on him to quickly replenish). Weapon of choice: His backpack that turns into a mortar. He calls it the 'Tanuki Bomber.'**

 **Feore** **R** **avensmith: Basically, think Yatsuhashi, just with a bit more bulk to him, but none of the agility. Weapon of choice: A MASSIVE furnace that turns into a cannon. Can have sand tossed in in order to fire globs of molten glass. He calls it the 'Cassi Blaze.'**

 **C** **itrine Flare: A… Tremor from** _ **Mortal Kombat**_ **. In his Krystaline variation. Weapon of choice: that Pickaxe that turns into a flintlock. Name: Flair Strike. Semblance: Seismic Sense, essentially, just nowhere NEAR the same degree as Toph.**

 **Barite** **K** **rotite: Think a greek Kung Lao… With a mullet. And instead of a weaponized hat, he uses a bladed Yo-Yo that he calls 'Rolling Saws'. A bit of a horror fan, since I revealed his semblance in the chapter.**

 **Team BEMM is pronounced 'Beam', BTW. Now...**

 **Team LMON - 'Lemon.'**

 **L** **aau Jeuk: Think Flora from** _ **Winx Club**_ **. She basically has a wood version of Pyrrha's semblance, but she's more open about it. Weapon of choice: A whip that doubles as an automatic pistol.**

 **M** **elone Frost: She's basically Sheik, from** _ **OoT**_ **. She uses ninja stars imbedded with ice dust, but when she wants to get up close and personal, she uses a simple set of Sai that are dual pistols. Why she uses two ranged weapons? - Her semblance allows her to create a temporary copy of an item on her, like, say, a ninja star. She has a LOT of ice dust, BTW.**

 **O** **zzy Silverstein: The cousin of Barite, uses a flashlight that can extend into a club, and be used as a tazer. Semblance: Can turn his body into a** _ **very**_ **durable material, but he can't move while using it. On the plus side, his aura can't be depleted while using it. But it makes it** _ **incredibly**_ **easy to force a ring-out, as it has cooldown and charge time.**

 **N** **itro Glycen: A bit of a brute, has a grenade launcher on him that turns into a halberd. Semblance: Can deplete a portion of his aura to create an explosion that causes massive damage to the surroundings.**

 **I only own the guys who got rekt in this story. Everyone else is property of Monty Oum and Rooster Teeth.**


	16. The Sundering

_Sundering blows rain down. The time has come. We are done with round one…_

* * *

"Jaune Arc and Pyrrha Nikos of team JNPR have successfully advanced to the next round!"

* * *

"Coco Adel and Yatsuhashi Daichi have emerged victorious!"

* * *

"Yang Shi Long and Weiss Schnee have won their round!"

* * *

The rounds went like this for a while. In the end, the fighters selected for the finals were: Yang Shi Long, Penny Polendina, Pyrrha Nikos, Yatsuhashi Daich, Mercury Black, Sun Wukong, Flynt Coal, and a sword thrower from Vacuo named Nathan Clamshell.

"The score is five to three for the finals. Who wants to fight someone on _our_ side?"

Yang raised her hand, "I'm known to be a hot-head, If I attack someone when they're down, people would just think it's my personality."

"The little squirt here made it so my legs can appear broken. She even got an artificial skin and fake blood so it can look like they really _are_ broken." Mercury mentioned, "Just do a combination attack that goes a little too far, and I can activate it. Should cause some panic and distrust."

Yang nodded.

"Wait," Ruby realized, "You wanted _fake_ blood?" She clarified.

Mercury stared at Ruby for a moment, then turned back to Yang, "You sure you want to be hated by the entire world and the audience blondie?"

"I'm Salem's herald. I'd have to actually _care_ about what other people think of me to begin with." She replied with harshness.

The rest of the group looked at each other. "Yang," Weiss began, "Are you sure you want to do this? Even _after_ what we do is accomplished, after the light's true motives are revealed, you'll still be the villain in many people's eyes." Even Winter looked sympathetic, "Are you _positive_ that you're up for this?"

Yang paused, then her eyes darkened. "Someone has to play villain for the heroes, right?"

The group paused. It was true, Yang would have to face hatred for her actions by both sides. Even though those within the group would know the truth, she would still be hailed as a villain.

"Action, is my reward. I care not for how history sees me. _I_ know what I did. And that's all that matters." She said as she got up and started towards the door.

Ruby stepped forward, "Maybe. But it would be nice if there were people who approve of your actions, and see you as a hero for them."

Yang paused. Those words… They reminded her of the story she had held close to her heart so. She turned her head, "Tell my story to those who wish to hear it. Tell it true. Leave out no action of evil. Leave out no action of heroism. And let history judge me." She opened the door.

"But… Who's left after the heroes run?" Winter asked as she tried to block Yang's exit.

"... We'll find out, won't we? You don't have to defend me. It's my job to take all that hate. It's my semblance, after all."

The rest of the group looked off to see their comrade- No, their _friend_ walk off into the next room. Knowing that _they_ get to be the heroes, but one of them has to fall.

* * *

"This bio-suit will enhance your reflexes, and grant you the ability to detect incoming threats at a much faster rate." A scientist explained to Ren as he was trying to get a feel for his new suit. "It'll also make you _really_ good at DDR."

Ren rolled his eyes, "I'm _already_ the Vale champion of that game."

"Well, now you'll be the world champ." The scientist shot back as he made the final adjustment, "And done! How's it feel?"

"Weird. It feels like a second skin or something…"

"That's normal. Your weapons have also been enhanced." Ironwood said as he walked in.

"How so?"

Ironwood tossed Ren his weapons, "Catch." Ren caught them, "We have a training room nearby, report there after your suit is finalized in its calibration."

James' assistant raced to keep up with his boss, "Sir, should we tell him that-"

" _NO._ That information is on a need to know basis." He glared, "He _DOESN'T_ need to know, so we don't have to tell him."

The assistant nodded, "S-sorry sir, I just-"

" _Don't_ forget why you're here in the first place. I can send you back, do you want that?" Ironwood threatened.

The assistant blanched, "N-no sir…"

Ironwood straightened his coat, "Good, now. Let's see mister Lie's new weapons in action…"

* * *

The training room was rather large. And Ozpin's group was in a booth observing the entire floor.

"Lie Ren: This is your armor test, your objective is to avoid _all_ blows to your person. Do you understand?"

Ren nodded at the general's set instructions, and prepared himself.

"Begin."

The floor opened up, revealing several turrets that shielding on them. All of them opened fire on Ren, who nimbly dodged as if it were a natural thing for him.

"Add variables." The assistant nodded, and pressed a button, causing the turrets to start firing different rounds. Some were buzzsaws, a few were grenades, one was a missile, and the rest remained with their original bullet rounds.

Ren continued to dodge, for a few minutes, the test ended when he jumped on a sawblade and performed several flips in the air.

"Reset, and pause." Ironwood looked to Ren, the student wasn't exhausted. That was good. "Lie Ren, your new objective is the same as your last, with an additional challenge: Neutralize all hostiles using your weapons and skills."

Ren nodded as the turrets re-positioned themselves and started firing as they were.

Ren continued to dodge the various rounds that were being launched at him. He aimed Storm Flower at one turret and fired. The bullets went into the barrel and caused the turret to jam.

"He's good."

Ren continued the process, even managed to deflect a saw blade into another turret. The process ended when he shot at a missile that was just leaving it's barrel, causing it to detonate.

Ren heard slow clapping as he turned to see Ironwood walking towards him, "Excellent job. We may win this war yet…"

* * *

"AUUGH!"

"Subject still showing signs of resistance!"

"Power levels critical!"

"She's overloading the system!"

"Increase the power on the restraints! We can't let her escape-"

 _BOOM!_

The subject caused a massive explosion. Retrieving her clothing from a nearby station, she proceeded to bust a hole through the wall, and jumped out.

One of the scientists walked towards the new hole, "Ironwood's gonna have our heads for this…" He picked up an object off the ground…

"Subject S has escaped! Repeat: Subject S has escaped!"

The first scientist released the object to the ground, allowing it to flutter into the black night. The white rose petal standing out amongst the dark sky.

"Summer Rose has escaped."

* * *

Yang was on the balcony of the makeshift base.

"Hello mother…"

Raven saw no reason to conceal herself and emerged from her hiding spot, "How'd the meeting go?"

"It went well."

"I heard you were planning on being the 'villain' of the story. Is it truly what you want?" The dark-haired woman asked.

Yang looked out to the night sky, "Perhaps it is my fate…"

"I heard Salem doesn't believe in fate." Raven responded.

"Hm."

Several moments past.

"Why?"

Yang turned to her mother, "You're going to have to be more specific."

"Why were so quick to forgive me? I abandoned you. So, why?"

Yang sighed, "I guess… It had to do with the story of my weapon."

"Ember Celica?"

"No. Diyu Guagou." She clarified, "Salem told me the story of what really happened on that ship. She lost someone close to her. She told me that while hate and fear feed the grimm, you shouldn't hang onto it for your entire life, or afterlife in my case." She sighed, "She told me why you left, how you went off to try and restore balance to the world. After that, I just couldn't bring myself to hate you anymore."

Raven stared at her daughter, and sighed, "I'll be the villain. Not you."

"But-"

" _I_ abandoned my daughter. I'm sure history would say it was my fault for making you do what you did." Yang looked to protest before Raven raised her hand to signify silence, "Let it be my 'Sorry I abandoned you' gift, alright?" She asked with a soft smile.

Yang relented, and mirrored her mother's smile. "If it's any consolation, you'll always be _my_ hero."

Raven walked off after sharing a brief hug.

" _I like her"_

"Me too, Shadow. Me too…"

* * *

 **AN: If you want to see the story Yang is referring to, just request it. Five or more votes for 'yes', and I'll post it… OH! You're probably wondering about Summer, right. As for 'what' is going to be the 'villainous' action, you'll find out.**

 **Eh, next chapter.**

 **Typical disclaimer stuff, I just have to add DDR to the list of things I don't own.**


	17. The Escape

" _Subject S has escaped! Repeat, Subject S has escaped. Threat level critical. Threat level critical. All personnel, report to your stations! This is a level X threat. Repeat: This is a level X threat."_

* * *

"Security breach in sector twelve!"

"No! It's sector fourteen! How did she get there so fast- Augh!"

"Vic? _VIC?_ "

"Shit! She's in sector five! Battle stations!"

"SOS! SOS! She's in the hangar! She's tearing everything apart- Ack!"

"Johnson? _JOHNSON?_ "

"Subject S is heading for sector seven!"

"She's tearing everything apart! It's like that one manga in here!"

"Fuck! She's going to sector one!"

"But that's where…"

* * *

 _Morning…_

"How did this happen?" Ironwood was barely able to successfully rein in his rage as he spoke. 'Subject S' had torn through many of his equipment, and even managed to slice through many of his men like butter.

"I… I don't know sir. P-perhaps her new semblance-ah!"

Ironwood looked his assistant dead in the eye, " _What_ about it?"

The assistant gulped, "W-well, as you kn-know sir… In order to extract new souls for y-your projects- ah!" He flinched as the general raised his fist, then calmed down once the general lowered his arm, "W-we need to temporarily stop Sum- uh, Subject S' heart, then restart it. She gains a new semblance every time we try. Perhaps she got one that creates an overwhelming power output?"

Ironwood dropped his assistant with an 'oof' coming from him as he scrambled to get back on his feet.

"What about the tracker?" He asked coolly.

"We found it in the forest, in a puddle of blood, and a small pile of skin."

"Tch, so she knew about it then." Ironwood turned around to head back to his quarters, thankfully for him, the testing grounds and labs were at a different location than this one. Don't need Qrow getting curious. "How is the rest of team JNPR adjusting to their enhancements?"

"They are adjusting rather well. Miss Nikos is currently in possession of the 'Mechanized Electrical Termination Armor' or, as the scientists call it: The M.E.T.A armor."

"Isn't that just 'armor armor'?- Y'know, what? Never mind." He paused "and the finals?"

"Going underway as we speak. However, as per her request, miss Nikos has forgone the armor for the final round. She didn't want to raise suspicions."

"Hmm, smart girl. She may make an excellent soldier yet." He muttered. "Who is participating right now?"

"A fighter named Yang Shi Long is in a fight with one Mercury Bla- ack!"

" _Shi_ long?" He asked, as he forced his assistant out of the way. His eyes widened, "Oh no…"

* * *

Yang had been playing her part carefully, she had put up an impressive fight. Even managing to evade a ring-out by using her gauntlets to propel herself back onto the arena.

Unfortunately for her, a member of the audience was watching with wide eyes.

Qrow Branwen.

"No way…" He couldn't believe his eyes! Those were the weapons Raven told him to give to Yang _Xiao_ Long. How this chick got ahold of them, he had zero idea. She was introduced as 'the Y of team RWBY.'

But… The hair was awfully similar…

"Could they have…" He trailed off, unsure if what he heard about the mysterious team was true or not. He had asked nearby students about them. The answers were a shock to him.

"Team RWBY? Yeah, they're led by a girl named, uh, Ruby Fall." One person said.

"Yeah, because _that's_ not confusing at all." His friend joked.

The way _this_ Yang fought and acted… She looked as if she hadn't had enough sleep, and was moving erratically at first. Then it became apparent that it was almost as if she weren't in control of her own actions.

"Did the firecracker get…" He was unable to finish his thought as Yang brutally launched several punches and kicks at her opponent's legs, and an audible _crack_ was heard.

There was a collective silence as Yang screamed and held her head. A device fell out of her ear as she collapsed.

"It appears as if one of the competitors had something interfering with her thoughts. Nevertheless, despite this transgression, Yang Shi Long has advanced to the next round." Port announced.

"Indeed, and it appears that medical assistance has arrived on the arena to help out both fighters." Oobleck noticed.

There was murmuring among the crowd. But Qrow paid them no heed. He _saw_ how the girl fought. It was similar to how his niece would roughhouse with him before…

A faint buzzing shook him from these thoughts. He looked to his scroll. _Call from James 'Douchebag' Ironwood_. He ignored it. He had no time to bother with Jimmy's problems. He _finally_ found a potential connection to his missing family, and he wasn't going to waste this opportunity.

"The world can wait. I have my family to find."

* * *

"The panic has stirred the grimm in the nearby area. Do you feel it?"

Yang nodded at Cinder's question. Thankfully, the medics that arrived just so 'happened' to be a disguised Neo, Neon, Cinder, and Fox. "Salem said that she has control over them again. They're all loyal for the first time in a long time."

"Since… Since Yin?" Cinder asked cautiously.

Yang nodded and smiled. "She's even considering taking a visit up here soon."

Cinder's eyes widened, "That… That would be… Nice… Nobody other than Yin really knows the _real_ her."

Yang scoffed, "Are you saying _I'm_ 'nobody'?"

Cinder giggled a bit, "Sorry. Wasn't thinking."

"Clearly."

* * *

"Damnit Branwen, pick up!"

" _Hello. You have reached the scroll of Qrow Branwen. If yer callin' about a bar, I have no idea what yer talkin' about; If yer callin' 'cause I left somethin' at your place sweetcheeks, I'll be back soon; If this is Jimmy, then kindly fuck off. If you ain't one of these people, leave a message, 'kay?"_

"Grr, QROW! Pick up your damn scroll! We have a problem: That Long girl might be in league with Ten Kit! We have to act fast!" Ironwood had already left several messages.

Turns out, Qrow held a grudge.

"Sir," His assistant pipped up, "Perhaps he has the situation taken care of."

"No… The team the girl was on…" the general trailed off, "Team RWBY… Led by someone named Ruby… Ruby was the name of his niece. If he finds her, then he would abandon his mission."

"Sir, I highly doubt that he would set aside the fate of the world for the sake of meeting the family he's been searching for…" The assistant trailed off. "Nearly a decade…" He started shifting around, "And blames you for their deaths…"

Ironwood had a look of pure terror in his eyes, "WE HAVE TO GET TO BEACON!"

* * *

"And Penny Polendina has claimed victory over Yatsuhashi!"

"That was a good fight. I hope you had fun!" The little girl said, as Yatsuhashi walked off the stage, and back to his team.

Yatsuhashi remained silent, as he got back to his team. Once he met up with them, he opened his scroll. _Message to: Fall, Ruby: Penny Polendina is the android. Beware her attacks._

"Good thing you're so strong, or we would have never have figured that out."

Yatsu nodded at Velvet's comment, and returned to the makeshift base that the others were using.

* * *

"And as per expected, Pyrrha Nikos has claimed victory over Flynt Coal."

"Probably shouldn't have brought a musical instrument to a fight." Pyrrha suggested, offering her hand.

Flynt reluctantly took it and got back up. He opened his scroll. _Message to: TopCat: Pyrrha Nikos has the ability to manipulate magnets. Figure something out with that._

"Good thing you know your trumpet inside and out, huh?"

Flynt ruffled Neon's hair a bit, "You got that right. Now, I have some jazz records I want to listen to back at base."

Neon rolled her eyes, "You and your jazz obsession."

"I like it."

* * *

"Sun Wukong has defeated Nathan Clamshell!"

"Damn, that shell of yours is tough. And what's with the salt, anyways?"

The fallen foe looked up, "I call it my good luck charm. Plus, it works with my weapons. Can't attack if there's somethin' in your eyes like salt. Amirite?"

Sun nodded, "Guess so. Here, let me help you up."

The other opponent got up, and shook Sun's hand. The two then retreated to their respective teams.

"Nothing special about that kid. _Damn,_ and I was really hopping that there would be at least _something_."

Neptune placed a calming hand on his leader's shoulder, "Don't worry about it. We got the intel we needed from the other two. All that's left now is to expose Ozzy and Jimmy."

"Yeah, I guess so…"

* * *

"I'm sorry Mr Branwen, but we can't allow you in."

"But… Those kids might be my nieces! Or at the very least, have a connection to them!" The hunter argued.

"We can't let you in on a mere 'might', sir. You can only visit if you are family, teammates, or on the list that the patient filled out before entering the tournament." The Doctor argued.

"Do you have _any_ idea as to who I am?" Qrow motioned to draw his weapon.

"Qrow Branwen, approximately 6'6", only confirmed surviving member of team STRQ, known drunk in several different cities, and is currently thinking of about seven different ways of how to slice me up if I don't let you through." The doctor spouted off.

Qrow glared at the man, "It was only six…" He mumbled under his breath.

"I don't care sir. You aren't on the list. Unless you are on the list, I can't help you. Not even Headmaster Ozpin is allowed in uninvited."

"Ozpin?"

"Yes, sir. I apologize, but our hands are tied."

Qrow sighed, "It's alright. At this point, I'm used to disappointment."

* * *

 **AN: Damn, I kinda put Qrow through the crapper here. Anyways, I approximated Qrow's height by comparing it to Glynda's.**

 **Hmm, I guess we're going to see what 'Subject S' is up to next time, and we see the fruits of all the trouble the Noctus went through.**

 **Disclaimer stuff all that jazz.**

 **Okay, I just want to say this now: Thank you** _ **SO**_ **much for your support. It really means a lot to me and it's the thing that keeps me motivated.**

 **Also, I'm going to take a bit of a break from this story for a bit to focus on** _ **Aftermath**_ **. I kinda wanna get that story up to chapter 25 before I come back here. Don't worry, I am NOT abandoning this story. I'm just taking a break.**


	18. The time after spring

_Souls, much like flowers, don't last forever. They lose their petals. They get picked because they're pretty. Much like the lovely rose, some souls grow thorns to defend themselves._

 _This is the story of one such soul_

* * *

"Hmm, things have changed around here…" Summer looked out on the City of Vale, "The cities have gotten more advanced… And by the looks of it, the cars are more fuel efficient."

Summer had gotten to the view via a commandeered airship that crashed a few miles from her location.

Eh, like she told the associate of a good friend of hers, 'Any landing you can walk away from, is a successful one.'

She saw the local police harassing a group of faunus, "Tch, 'the more things change, the more they stay the same' it seems." She jumped into action, using the building she was on to allow gravity to increase her speed.

She noticed that her skin grew some stone layer on top of it, presumably due to her new semblance. She figured that it was adaptability.

Allowing her cloak to flap in the wind, she revealed her favorite weapon of choice: The cloak itself. Reaching into the microfiber, Summer transformed the article of clothing into a Lochaber axe.

She jumped down, swinging her weapon on the officer pinning down the girl with a fox tail.

"Surprise, mother fucker!"

* * *

"And in recent news, a string of murders have been occurring over Vale. Eyewitnesses claim that one of the victims was a corrupt police officer who regularly used his power to harass faunus. The recent chief of police had no comment when asked."

The television was turned off. "Were any of you guys out that night?" Blake asked the room full of people.

"I was in the hospital, along with Yang over there. Emerald can vouch for me." Mercury said.

"I was spending time with Cinder. We saw a movie together. She fell asleep halfway through, though." Ruby mentioned, "We saw _Person of Titanium_."

"I was looking over the golems that the Umbra members sent over. Raven can vouch for me." Weiss replied.

"Hmm, the Malachites, and Roman were on the other side of town getting wasted. Neo was their Designated Driver. They couldn't have been coherent enough to pull this off, and Neo hardly ever leaves Roman's side." Blake noted, "And I was with Adam, planning out our strategy…"

"Team CFVY or SSSN maybe?

"No," Blake continued, "Coco and Velvet were on a date then, Yatsu and Fox were in the training room, and team SSSN were busy herding the grimm to the White Fang airships."

"So, who could've done it then?"

* * *

"Hmm, so the cops are just as corrupt and incompetent as before." Summer mused as she walked along the streets of Vale. She looked at the colosseum floating in the sky. "If I know Cinder, she's probably got some of her associates in the tourney."

She started off, thinking back to her times in the lab. Where she vowed vengeance on Ironwood and his associates. "Tch, knowing the bastard, he probably tricked Qrow into joining _his_ side."

Walking into the local library, she located a computer.

"Alright, let's see…" Summer typed in the name of her daughter. She found results about her death, and how the body wasn't even found.

"Oh my goodness…" Summer's eyes became watery…

She then chuckled to herself, "Rule number one: No body, means not dead. Can't believe Ozpin missed that. Knowing Cinder, she probably picked up Ruby, and kept her as her daughter. Well, who am I to mess with that relationship?"

She proceeded to type in Yang's name, and got prompted with a recent news article: _Mind games at the Vytal Festival?_ She clicked on it, and saw the article that was posted.

 _In one of the first rounds of the singles battles in the illustrious tournament, fighter known as Yang Shi Long was found with a strange device in her ear. Upon further inspection, the device appeared to be controlling the fighter. The young huntress has been allowed to continue in the tournament, but her opponent, Mercury Black has been crippled. When the authorities investigated the source of the broadcast, a lone feather was found. Further investigation is now going underway to find the culprit…_

Summer got up from her seat after that, "Dammit, Rae. You couldn't have just left the scene?" She muttered under her breath, "You had to take the fall? You couldn't just have left it to Cinder?"

* * *

"Dammit. Qrow _still_ isn't answering."

"S-sir… If I may, wouldn't it be a _bad_ idea to contact him so soon after Subject S escaped?" Ironwood's assistant asked in a meek voice.

"I…" The general trailed off, "Ugh, you have a point. We have to find her ourselves, we can't bring anyone else in on it."

* * *

Qrow was investigating the feather, "... This looks so much like the ones sis would…" He lost himself in thought, unable to comprehend why his world was crashing down.

"What the hell happened? What the hell happened to make the world _this_ fucked up?"

He had nothing better to do, so he decided to check his messages. _Twenty new messages from James 'Douchebag' Ironwood_.

"Tch, fine. Let's see what Jimmy wants."

* * *

Summer had been traveling, looking for any sign of Cinder, when she came across some Atlas military robots.

"HALT! SUBJECT S! YOU ARE ORDERED TO RETURN BACK TO THE FACILITY. COME QUIETLY, OR WE WILL BE FORCED TO USE LETHAL MEASURES!"

Summer rolled her eyes, "Your masters were going to torture me endlessly. I'd rather _die_ before going back to that hellhole!" She snarled.

The head of all the robots opened to reveal a screen that showed Ironwood's face, "Summer Rose. You are legally dead. You have no assets, and there is nowhere to run. These cyborgs are well-equipped to combat you. So STAND DOWN."

"Cyborgs? What, my soul isn't good enough for you, so you had to resort to putting _brains_ in your robots?"

"Quite contrary, _these_ cyborgs are some of my best men. And _some_ of them want a little payback for what you did at the facility." Ironwood smirked.

"Is that so?" Summer's face donned a sadistic smirk as her cloak morphed into a large greatsword. It was a few times the size of the standard one.

 _SLASH!_

The lead cyborg looked down where the sword slice was. The moment he stepped forward, he fell apart.

The other cyborgs turned their heads to their new opponent, who was wiping the oil off of the blade, "To quote one of the mightiest swordsman I know," She cleared her throat and proceeded to use her most threatening voice, "My sword has gotten _very_ dull. However, it is three times as thick, and does three times the damage as a normal sword. I hope your pain receptors are inactive, or this could be painful if you don't die quickly."

The cyborgs all charged at her, not seeing her sadistic smirk until she cut them down.

"If I fall, it won't be by your hands, James."

* * *

 **I got poetic with the title here.** _ **After Spring**_ **. Nice, right?**

 **Wow, I am on a** _ **Berserk**_ **streak right now. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that it's getting a new anime series soon. Seriously, how many** _ **Berserk**_ **references have I made so far? Can someone give me a total or something?**

 **Typical disclaimer stuff.**


	19. The day before autumn

_The light has gone unchecked for centuries. They claim to be heroes. They claim to watch over the world. The darkness know what they are. They have their followers to watch over them. They made sure that they couldn't go mad with power._

* * *

Team CFVY and SSSN had been eating at the home base. They were reminiscing as to why they were there, fighting the fight.

* * *

Velvet…

Her mother was killed right in front of her. Blake had found the bastard and pinned him down. Before the cat faunus could finish him off, Velvet solemnly asked if she could do it.

Blake had paused, she knew what she was going to do.

"Are… Are you sure?" She asked, she was in her 'Hardy' persona, making it difficult to discern who she was.

"Y-yes…" Velvet stammered, "He killed my mother…"

"Tch," The man struggled, "Then… Kill me. Leaving a kid without her ma… I ain't no monster." He struggled to look at the girl, "Hey, kid." Velvet's eyes looked at him, "What's your name?"

Velvet had no idea how to answer, so she answered truthfully, "Ve-Velvet Scarlatina."

"Heh, nice name. Look Velvet, I'm not gonna lie, I deserve to die. But… Do me a favor, will ya? End it quick."

* * *

Velvet had indeed ended the man's life quickly. Not a single day goes by that she doesn't see the man's face, or her mother's.

Coco had found her a few days after. Her father having died from a group of hunters, they bonded rather well. The man Velvet had killed was the only one who got away.

They grew up together, and eventually falling for each other.

Eventually, they met Yatsuhashi and Fox, and they became the tightest knit of friends.

After infiltrating Beacon, the quartet became well-known for both their style, their use of teamwork, and their mighty tactics.

Team CFVY was a force to be reckoned with.

* * *

"Something bothering you, Vel?" Coco asked.

Velvet just smiled, "Just reminiscing Coco."

Coco knowingly smiled, "Memories. Amirite?"

Velvet nodded. She turned to team SSSN, "Hey, why are you guys involved in this?"

Sun looked flabbergasted.

"We were in Vacuo. What else do you need to know?"

"Ah. No need to elaborate then."

* * *

Summer had gotten some distance between her and the cyborgs.

"Tch, not even worth the effort. Can't believe I wasted one of my better quotes on them…"

Summer was making her way to a local motel. The Hen's Jawbone.

"Hello, how can I help you?"

Summer looked to the receptionist, "Yeah, any idea where I can find a place to eat?"

"Oh, we have a small breakfast buffet in the morning. You're welcome to eat here if you're willing to stay the night."

"I'd appreciate it, but I have no money." Summer replied, she turned to the door.

"Oh…" The receptionist hung her head down, "Wait!" Summer stopped, "You're a huntress, right?"

Summer hesitantly nodded.

"Thank goodness. You can guard the place for the night. For some reason, the Atlas military are cracking down on the local shops and motels around here. Constantly looking for a person. I think their name was uh, Cider or something."

Summer's eyebrow raised, "Oh? Are you worried?"

The receptionist scoffed, "Of course not. This 'Cider' person is probably just some random thief that stole one of their pens or something. We all know how Atlas is about their stuff."

"Yeah, the guy never likes someone taking a paper clip from the conference room." Summer joked.

The receptionist giggled, "You got that right," She handed Summer a key, "Your room is number six. It looks out onto the street, so you should be able to see any 'intruders'," She placed air quotes around the word, "Before they get in."

"Thanks. I'll be sure to look out for them."

* * *

"What in the…?"

Qrow was wandering the city. Apparently, he had missed the discharge of Yang, and he was looking for the girl. He got sidetracked, though.

In the alleyway were several dismembered cyborgs. But that wasn't what caught his attention. His attention was caught by a single white rose petal.

Qrow walked into the area, "What the hell happened here?" He picked up a cyborg head, "The black box should be in here…"

He placed the head in his backpack. "Whatever, gotta find Rae…"

He walked to a nearby motel and was greeted by the receptionist, "Hello! Welcome to Hen's Jawbone. Can I help you tonight?"

"Yeah. You see a gal with dark hair, and red eyes stop by here?"

The receptionist raised her eyebrow, "No, why do you ask? She your girlfriend or something?"

Qrow flinched a bit at that, "What? No. She's my sister. Her name's Raven. Raven Branwen."

"Ah," The receptionist replied, "I'll keep an eye out for her then."

Qrow gave the girl his thanks and went towards the door, "Hey, I never got your name. What is it?"

"Hmm? Oh, my name is Jensen. Jensen Tanner." She replied, "Say, are you a hunter?"

Qrow nodded.

"Oh! Then, maybe you know the resident mystery girl that Atlas is after."

"We don't have a name. All we know is that she's a fan of wearing red, and is often using fire."

"Well, good thing we have our own huntress here in room number six to keep this place from burning." Jensen replied.

"Hmm? Huntress, you say? What's her name?"

"Oh, I don't remember too well. It was something pretty though. Uh, Spring, or Winter maybe."

Qrow's eyes widened, "Summer?"

"Yeah, that's it!" She realized, "How'd you know- Wait…"

Qrow was gone.

"Where'd he go?"

* * *

"Summer!" Qrow was knocking on the door of the room he was told she'd be in, trying to find out if this was indeed the Summer he knew or not.

He hear a voice on the other side, "I swear, if this is Ironwood, I'm gonna-" She opened the door, "Qrow?"

"Sum…" Qrow couldn't believe his eyes. Right there in front of him. Was the leader of Team STRQ. The only difference being that her eyes, once a shimmering silver, had turned a dark grey. Despite that, it was Summer. Just a bit older, and… _Alive_.

"How…?"

Summer gulped, "Sorry Qrow." She punched him in the gut, then proceeded to turn her cloak into a large club and struck his head, knocking him down. "I… I wish it didn't have to be like this…" There were tears in her eyes.

Qrow looked up, "Wha? What are you talking abou-"

 _SMASH!_

Qrow was rendered unconscious by that final blow. Constantly being on the move had drained his aura, and left him vulnerable to any ferocious attack.

Summer sighed, "Sorry Qrow. If there was a different way to help the world, I'd do it. But this world has been set up as one in need of a revolution. A _bloody_ one.

* * *

 **Damn, I keep putting Qrow through the crapper, huh? Well, for those Qrow fans out there reading this, that'll stop… Okay, it'll happen less often… Kinda? Sorta? Look, I need a butt-monkey, and I didn't want to be obvious and decide on Cardin. I wanted a badass butt-monkey. One that'll… Well, you'll find out.**

 **Oh, and Yami-no-Raiden did a count for me, as of the previous chapter, I have made six references to** _ **Berserk**_ **, with half of them referencing how I want Griffith dead.**

 **This feels like a filler chapter...**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own RWBY. Monty Oum and RoosterTeeth do.**


	20. The Burnng Petal

_Reddened blood spills even from the so called gods._

 _Winter ice halt the so called gods of this world._

 _Blackened shadows reveal the true form of the formless foe._

 _Yellow flames shall reveal your sins to the world at large._

 _Just you wait._

 _Nobody shall come out unscaved._

 _Power shall reveal the victor._

 _Revolution is around the corner._

* * *

"And by the looks of it, the finals will be between Pyrrha Nikos of Beacon…" Oobleck waited for the applause and cheer to die down a bit.

"And Penny Polendina of Atlas!" Port finished.

Both combatants met in the center ring. They shook hands.

"Salu-tations! I hope our fight will be most enjoyable!"

Pyrrha nodded to her opponent, "Likewise."

The two took to their positions.

"FIGHT!"

The two were engaged in ferocious combat. Blades clashing against blades. Swords stopped by shields, and stopping thrown shields.

Pyrrha's semblance kept her weapons close, while Penny's wires kept hers close.

The two were matching each other blow-for-blow, aura levels rarely ever depleting.

* * *

" _Emerald. Are you in position?"_

"Put an 'affirmative' on that, Hardy. Shall I introduce Invincible girl to my semblance?"

" _Do it."_

"Alright. Let's cause some chaos…"

* * *

Pyrrha blinked. There were only eight blades before, right?

Because now, there's about forty-eight.

And all of them were pointed at her.

* * *

"All men to your stations! The war is starting. This is a Z-Level alert. Repeat: A Z-Level alert!"

Ironwood sent the message to the troops of his military. He was rushing towards the tournament, he was intent on defeating his foes once and for all. He had a job to protect people, and if that meant that he was going to use the ORF, then so be it.

"Sir, I sent the message to the other leaders as requested. Ozpin is on his way over to assist."

"Good job, Jones. Good job."

"It's pronounced 'Joe-enes', sir. But thank you."

"The sooner we get there, the better. Ugh, why did they design this thing with long-ass hallways?" Ironwood lamented.

"Maybe you should let things run their course."

Ironwood and his assistant stopped their approach, "Mercury Black."

The gray-haired fighter smirked, "That's my name. Don't wear it out."

"Should've figured that you would be in on this. So, what's the plan for this anyways?" Ironwood prodded.

"I know what you're doing. You're trying to goad me into monologuing. But I'll leave you with this: Magnets and Metal. Here's hoping that the redhead doesn't start hallucinating."

"Shame that that's what Emerald specializes in."

"Xiao Long." Ironwood grumbled.

The spectre's eyes narrowed, "That girl died the moment _your_ plan killed Summer Rose. She died the moment _your_ plan nearly killed her sister. She DIED the moment _you took everything from her!_ "

"Very well. If _Shi_ Long is what you desire to be called, then who am I to question that?"

"You're the man who will pay for his crimes." Yang snarled.

"I bring peace to this world!"

"And yet, your 'plan' is to take everyone's freedom away." Mercury countered, "You sound like what all those legends make Salem out to be."

Tch Ironwood was running low on options. He had only one option to deal with this situation-

"Sir, they're stalling. They want to waste your time so you can't stop the tournament." Joenes realized.

"So the cunning military 'genius' figures it out. And all he needed was five minutes and his assistant to realize it." Mercury taunted.

"I've had enough of this banter. If you wish to fight my superior, you will have to go through _me_ first!"

" _You?_ Don't make me laugh!" Mercury replied, "A scrawny scrub like you has no chance against the two of us. The only way you'll even stand a ghost of a chance is if you have Jimmy there backing you up."

"Appearances can be deceiving…" The assistant replied darkly. His body started to reformat. His arms opened to reveal a set of arm cannons. Out of his back came four metal tentacles, each with a different weapon attached. One tentacle had a simple claw, while the one closest to his right arm had what appeared to be a large cattle prod, while the one nearby his left foot seemed to be a regular tentacle, and the one nearby the other foot seemed to be a hammer of sorts.

"Miss Long, Mister Black. I'd like to introduce you to Joenes Rockman. Or as you will soon be calling him: Your demise." Ironwood announced.

* * *

Qrow woke up with a small crack on his skull, "Augh, the back of my head…"

"Oh, you're awake. Finally." Jensen said, getting up from her seat.

"Sum… Where's Sum?" He called frantically.

"Woah there, Qrow. You're at the hospital. Whatever got you got you good. A crack in the back of the skull. I got you to the hospital as fast as I could. That Summer girl said she was going after whoever hit you." The woman reassured.

"No… She's gone again…" Qrow lamented, "Did…" He propped himself up, "Did you see where she was headed?"

Jensen blinked, "Uh, I think she was heading towards the docks or something."

"Then I'll be at the docks." he replied.

"Wait, you're injured! You can't go out there." She pleaded.

Qrow looked down at his feet, "Eh," He shrugged, "I've had worse."

"When? When did you have worse?" Jensen prodded.

"The time I fought against three giant Nevermores with cracked ribs." He responded.

Jensen's mouth was agape. Never had she seen someone so reckless and headstrong.

"At least let me drive you there."

Qrow looked as if he were about to retort, then he saw her eyes. Her blue eyes filled with determination with a look that basically said 'You have no say in this.'

"Fine. Just hurry up."

* * *

'Good grief!' Pyrrha was dodging what seemed to be dozens of blades coming at her. "Ugh, first there's eight, then there's forty-eight, and now…" She was seeing over a hundred blades coming at her.

She rubbed her eyes again. It was back to forty-eight, _was she seeing things?_

She kept blinking, and the number kept fluctuating between the original eight blades to the thousands that kept haunting her eyesight.

She narrowly evaded a new set of blades. She looked to the screen, there were only eight blades. _What the heck…?_

* * *

"Rockman, take care of these two." Ironwood commanded. He started to towards the arena, a smug smirk on his face.

"I wanna kick that smirk off his face and onto his ass." Mercury growled.

"You go. I 'll take care of this robot." Yang ordered.

"I don't think you can take him on alone." Mercury said worryingly.

A large armored, armed beowolf emerged from Yang's shadow, "Who said I was alone?" she smirked.

Mercury nodded, and ran off to intercept the general.

"Alright Joenes," Yang brandished Diyu Guagou, "Let's see if you can _burn…_ "

* * *

"So, why are we heading towards a warehouse nearby the docks?"

Qrow was clinging to his seat. He shook off some queasiness "Ugh… Didn't you say that Summer was heading here?"

"Yeah, so?"

Qrow grumbled a bit, "Well, I'm trying to find her."

"Oh, is _she_ your girlfriend?"

Qrow looked at Jensen, "No… She's just a friend."

"Who happens to be a girl." Jensen replied.

"Sure, whatever."

* * *

 **Woo! A lot of stuff is happening here, and we're just about to get started on the first part of the actual war.**

 **Joenes Rockman… He's basically Mega Man… But on steroids.**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own RWBY.**


	21. The Revolution Begins

_War is hell. Power had corrupted the light, and the loss of power has driven the darkness to desperate measures. Once upon a time, both sides kept each other in check, but now the light goes unchecked. The darkness, rallied by the people is kept in check by the people. One the first war had ended, the base the Noctus inhabited was abandoned. The only thing left was an inscription on the walls. A question, that the light could not answer. One that some refused to answer._

 _The question? - ¿Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?_

* * *

"You have no idea what will happen if you don't stand down."

Mercury ignored Ironwood's threat, "I don't care. All you're fighting for is a world where you point a gun to everyone's head and call it 'protection.'"

Ironwood twitched, Qrow had basically said the same thing.

"Better than letting everyone roam free without supervision." Ironwood countered.

"How so?" Bullets dodged.

"Criminals in the streets! Chaos and destruction everywhere!"

Mercury rolled his eyes, "And your 'peace through tyranny' isn't chaotic at all" he retorted after having his flying kick dodged.

"Better than yours!" Punch dodged.

* * *

If there was one part of the plan that Ruby didn't like, it was the fact that she had to help Neo break Roman out of his cell. CRDL had been assigned to mountain Glenn, and by some stroke of luck, they actually managed to capture him.

Then again, it was part of the plan.

Eh, whatever.

"Hey! Let us out! You have no idea what's going to happen if you let Torchwick out!"

Neo and Ruby ignored the pleas of the _former_ crew. The two of them wished that they could shut them up, but the plan required that any bloodspill would be on hold until the signal.

"Cell fifty five, cell fifty six, ah! Here we go." Ruby walked up to the cell doors and used the security card she had obtained earlier to open it.

"Well, it's about time."

* * *

Pyrrha couldn't concentrate. The number of blades kept fluctuating between several dozen blades and four blades throughout the fight. "What the hell is going on?"

She dodged another set of blades coming right at her.

She saw a large barrage of blades aiming at her. Penny swung her arm and her opponent kept jumping and weaving to evade the oncoming weapons.

Pyrrha saw a massive barrage of blades aiming right at her. She raised her hands and activated her semblance, 'So much for keeping that a secret…'

The illusion dropped, and Pyrrha's eyes widened. She tried to retract the blades before the wires hit Penny and-

 _SNAP! SNAP! SNAP! SNAP!_

She was too late. The wires had sliced off Penny's limbs.

"What the hell?"

"An _android?"_

"Why the hell would Atlas build an android that looks like a human being?"

These questions fell on Pyrrha's deaf ears. "I… I just killed…"

"Pyrrha! We have incoming!"

Pyrrha turned her head towards Jaune, he was running towards her. She looked up, and saw a nevermore pecking at the barrier.

" _What a shame…"_

* * *

"What in the world?"

Mercury smirked, "Looks like you and your precious robot lost."

Ironwood scowled at the gray-haired fighter in front of him, "Like you?"

"Tch, I haven't lost yet. You on the other hand, _have._ " Mercury sneered back.

"Oh, and what of your friend?" Ironwood responded with confidence as he saw Rockman's figure heading towards him.

It dropped, and Yang's figure was standing.

"Interesting move you pulled." The spectre noted, "Giving this thing an aura was a smart move, and it would've worked against a lot of different opponents. Unfortunately," She cocked Ember Celica, "Hellfire _burns_ aura."

Both Yang and Mercury's hand shot towards their ears. Mercury paused for a moment before scowling along with Yang, "It's your lucky day Flimsy Wood. You don't die today." He threw down a smoke pellet to disappear with Yang.

"It's _Iron_ wood, you terrorists!"

* * *

The barrier shattered and the Nevermore broke through.

"Everyone who can't fight head to the ships! If you are unable or unwilling to fight, get out of here! Those who _can_ fight, FIGHT!"

JNPR took out their scrolls and dialed a number.

The capsules imbedded themselves into the back of the Nevermore, and revealed their power suits. Pyrrha equipped the M.E.T.A while Jaune got into his capsule and equipped his exo-suit that allowed him to channel his aura into concussive bolts of energy.

The Science heads had taken it to calling it the Strafe Suit.

Ren's armor had the affectionate name of Lamun suit.

Nora, got into her capsule, and pressed a button and a motorcycle launched out of the capsule. She righted herself on and flipped a switch. The vehicle's parts started to shift until it became a suit of armor that Nora had dubbed _The Axil_.

"Alright, team JNPR," Jaune announced, "let's stop Noctus… From doing what they're… Doing…"

"That wasn't a very good quip." Nora interjected.

"We don't have time for this," Pyrrha snorted, "Let's go!"

* * *

Chaos was raining down upon the city. Atlas robots swarming in.

"C'mon, BRCK! We have a job to do!"

"Hell Yeah!"

"Sorry boys," Coco walked in the way of their path with her team, "But we can't let you pass."

Disyerto frowned, "What the hell are you doing? You're _defending_ the Noctus and White Fang?"

"You got that right, buddy." Coco smirked, "Now then," All of the weapons became active, "Let's see if you can keep up with this!"

* * *

"And this guy makes four!"

Team SSSN had just dispatched the fourth group of Atlas robots, and were heading towards the Noctis airships. They were on the way to stop the Lucidem's forces. Civilians got a free pass, anyone who was fighting the White Fang, or other Noctis, were fair game.

"Sun! We have incoming!"

Sun turned to where Neptune was pointing.

"Great…"

A Heavy Zepol mech.

"Well," They all activated their weapons, "Let's see what they're made of…"

* * *

"Alright ladies, let's take down the light. Let's see if The Lucidum are really as strong as they say they are-"

"Team RWBY?"

The four girls turned to see Team JNPR, outfitted in power armor, blocking the entrance to Ozpin's office.

"What are you doing conspiring with those terrorists?" Pyrrha asked, flabbergasted.

"The Noctis?" Ruby asked, " _Your_ guys are the malevolent dictators!"

"No, they're trying to keep the peace!" Nora responded.

"Peace through tyranny!" Weiss retaliated, readying her weapons. 'I lost my sister to those damn bastards. Why are you defending them?'

"Tch, clearly you aren't thinking straight. But don't worry, we can help you." Ren said.

"Don't play peacekeeper with us Lie! Your side's done things. Things that history would call an atrocity if historians knew what _really_ happened!" Yang growled, "Like that damn butchered excuse of a story that those myths made about what happened to the _Tartarus_!"

"Yang… You aren't making any sense." Pyrrha said, blinking away tears. 'We were such close friends. Was it all a lie?'

Blake snarled, "What about the faunus? The police attack them on a daily basis, and nobody does _anything!_ "

"Society is working on fixing that! We can achieve peace! Just stand down, and we can fix-"

"Shut it Arc! I'd need a team of experts to count the number of people they threw under the bus!" Yang snarled.

"Well, it looks like you guys just won't listen to reason," Pyrrha readied her weapons, "So it looks like if you want to get to professor Ozpin, you're going to have to get through _us!_ "

"Very well." Weiss responded.

"Looks like we have no choice," Yang readied her weapons.

"Shame," Ruby solemnly said, "Out of all the teams _not_ on our side," She readied her weapon, "I hated you guys the least."

* * *

"What are you even looking for?" Jensen asked.

"I'm looking for my sister, and maybe my team leader-"

"HIYA!" a sword nearly sliced off Qrow's leg as he jumped back several feet.

"Raven…"

"… Qrow." She finally replied.

"Why are you doing this? Why are you on _their_ side?" He asked.

"Those _heroes_ ," She spat, "Are nothing more than a bunch of liars and corrupt people. They stabbed who-knows how many people in the back! What _I_ can't believe is that you'd actually side with them."

"They help people, Raven. I don't understand what you're talking about." He replied.

"Tch, should've figured you wouldn't understand." The ravenette simply said.

"Jensen, run. This is probably going to get ugly." Qrow said under his breath.

Raven nodded, "At least you have enough sense to keep innocents out of this."

"Raven, I have to ask one more question."

Raven raised an eyebrow, "What is it, _brother?_ "

Qrow allowed himself to smile a bit at the fact that Raven still recognized him as family, "Why are you here? Why is everyone fighting?"

"That was _two_ questions." Raven deadpanned. "But I'll answer the first one with my own: Why are _you_ here?"

Qrow had to pause for a moment, "Because I _believe_ in my side."

"Tch, and _who_ makes sure _your_ side won't go too far?"

"I guess we'll just have to find out."

* * *

 **Well, chapter 20 is now complete. Up next: RWBY vs. JNPR, and Qrow vs. Raven. Who knows? Maybe Summer will make an appearance.**

 **Stay tuned.**

 **RWBY and all associated characters belong to their respective owners.**


	22. The Start of Combat

_Light and the darkness fight for balance, one is trying to tip it in one end, and the other is trying to restore it._

 _Jagged stones shall cut you to pieces, the raging inferno will burn away your sins, your silver warrior shall be your worst nightmare._

 _To defeat us, you must kill us all._

* * *

Swords clashed. The Branwen siblings kept slashing at each other. To an outside observer, there would only be the sounds of swords swinging and crashing, with sparks flying all over the place.

 _CLASH!_

"You know you can't win this fight, brother. You never could beat me." Raven snorted, "Surrender now, and I'll see if I can get in a good word for you when this is over. Make it so you can live out on Patch after this is over."

Qrow growled, "Tch, if _you_ surrender now, I can probably get you a lighter sentence. Maybe jail time instead of execution?"

Raven snarled, "After all this time, you still believe Ozpin and Jimmy?"

"I _trust_ Oz. I only _tolerate_ Jimmy." He growled, smashing his sword against hers to emphasize his point.

"Well, at least with _my_ allies, I can trust _all_ of them." Raven quipped, tearing a portal to shove a crate over Qrow's head.

* * *

"I don't wanna hurt you, Yang!"

The spectre growled, "Too bad! 'Cause _I'M_ gonna hurt _YOU!_ "

The two fighters were battling whilst riding on their respective rides. Yang was using Shadow, while Nora was using the motorcycle function of her power suit.

"Well, that's not very nice," Nora took out a lightning dust crystal, "But let's see if you can handle this _shocking_ attack!" She sped ahead and smashed the ground in front of Yang, forcing the herald to continue the fight on foot.

" _Mistress Yang! Are you alright?"_

"I'm fine Shadow," She spat out some blood, "Just gotta keep up my guard."

"Ooh, you can talk to grimm?" Nora asked.

"What about it?"

"That's _so_ _cool!_ I always wanted a pet ursa. Think you could get me one after I kick your butt?" Nora asked excitingly.

"Okay, one: I told the ursae in the area to avoid you because of how you keep riding them, two: I'm not going to get you a pet grimm, and three: What makes you think you're going to win?"

Nora shrugged, "Just figured. Since you're the bad guy, and I'm the good guy… Like a fairy tale!"

Yang's eyes flashed, "News flash, sweetheart," She rushed Nora, forcing her off the wheels, and into one-on-one combat, "Life ain't no fairy tale!"

Nora pouted, "Well, sometimes it is."

"You're right. The _original_ fairy tales." Yang snarked as she flung more debris at the viking, "Fun fact: _The Little Mermaid_ ends with the mermaid killing herself."

Nora scowled, "Well, I know what story to avoid when me and Ren have kids…" She muttered.

"If there was _one_ thing a fairy tale _should_ be right about, it's that you two should bang already…" Yang muttered. "But for now…" She aimed her grappling hook at the girl, "GET OVER HERE!"

* * *

"Not much of a talker, are you Blake?"

Blake kept dodging Jaune's attacks. Whether it was his sword swings, or aura blasts, she wasn't going to be beaten by this guy.

"This is coming from the guy who cheated his way into Beacon, right?"

Jaune was now hovering, "That has nothing to do with the fact that you're on the wrong side of this!"

Unlike her partner, Blake had chosen to go for a much more enclosed space. It suited her, as there was little room for her opponent to dodge her arrows. However, using the hallways of the school probably wasn't the smartest of choices. There was plenty of room for Jaune to dodge her attacks. The plus side was that he couldn't unleash his maximum potential on her.

She ducked into one of the classrooms, and found a hiding spot.

Jaune quickly followed, "You can't hide forever Blake. Come out quietly, and maybe we can make it so you'll get imprisoned instead of executed."

"Right…" Her voice echoed throughout the classroom, "A _faunus_ is going to get mercy from The Lucidum. The day _that_ happens is the day Ironwood and Ozpin admit to the atrocities they've committed!"

"Atrocities? What're you talking about?" the knight questioned, "They made mistakes, like any person would. Like how you're making a mistake by not turning yourself in!" Jaune finished.

"Your Strafe Suit. How do you think they got the ability to weaponize aura? An ability possessed by all beings with a soul that's supposed to be used _defensively?"_

Jaune was stumped. He had no answer, all he knew was that the armor gave him extra power. He never considered what Atlas did to actually _get_ that technology.

"At a loss for words? Figures. Nobody ever questions their methods. It's what makes _our_ side superior."

"Superior in what way? Through acts of terror? You side with the grimm!" Jaune rebuked, getting his second wind.

"The grimm are just hungry. What the hell did you think would happen if we made people hunt them down like monsters?" Blake's voice echoed throughout the empty room. "Who's the real monster? The monster? Or the monsters who _make_ the monster?"

"They're still both monsters." Jaune replied.

"The first one never asked to become a monster, you know. And there's the flaw in your logic."

Jaune noticed several arrows imbedded in the ground around him. "Oh, son of a-"

 _BOOM!_

* * *

"I'm surprised you decided to take _me_ on, Ren. To be honest, I figured you'd attack Blake." Weiss and Lie Ren had ended up in the gym. Ren had jumped to the rafters to gain higher ground over the heiress.

Ren said nothing as he loaded his own dust bullets into Storm Flower. It was fire dust, and thanks to the augmentations to his weapons, the flames would stick around for a while.

"Dust, Ren? Did you forget that I am the Mistress of Dust?" She waved her weapons around, using the wind dust, she scattered the fire dust. Though the flames were still present.

"'Mistress of dust'? Really?" Winter questioned.

"Not _now_ Winter. Can you find him?" Weiss harshly reprimanded.

"I am having trouble finding him. I'll tell you when I see him- What the…"

Weiss looked worried, "Winter, what's wrong?"

"He just flipped me off!"

Weiss' eyes widened, "What? How is that possible?"

"I don't know. It's either that armor, or his semblance," she panicked, "Just be careful."

"You got it." Weiss responded.

"Tch, no wonder people think you're crazy. All you do is talk to your dead sister all the time."

"Oh great. Now he's taunting us." Weiss muttered.

"You and your little soldiers can't win this fight, y'know."

"Tch, why does this feel like something Blake would do?" Winter asked, searching the rafters.

"Because it is."

Weiss heard a scream of pain coming from her sister, and saw her spirit falling and fading.

Until she faded into nothingness.

"W-W-Winter…?"

"Careful," She turned around to see Ren behind her, holding a tank of methane, "Springtime is here."

* * *

"You know that you're on the wrong side of all this, right?"

Ruby rolled her eyes, "This is coming from the same girl who dismembered someone a little while ago. You know that, right?"

Pyrrha kept shooting her rifle at the vested girl, who kept dodging every shot. "We both know that it was because of an illusion. So in a way, _you_ killed Polendina, not me."

"So it was manslaughter. The point still stands: The _whole world_ saw you dismember an innocent student." Ruby countered, shifting Rending Thorn to its greatsword mode.

"So _that_ was your plan? To tarnish my reputation?" Pyrrha pressed, also switching her weapon to better suit close-range combat.

Ruby scoffed, "No. The plan was to tarnish _Ozpin's_ reputation." She swung high, forcing Pyrrha to block with her shield, "The fact that Ironwood got exposed for making human-like robots was also part of the plan." Pyrrha moved to offense, but all of her blows were blocked, "The fact that the _invincible_ and _infallible_ Pyrrha Nikos dismembered someone was icing on the triple-layered cake." She finished, jumping back to allow her weapon to shift into its assault rifle mode, letting her unleash a barrage of dust bullets that Pyrrha could not magnetize.

" _Three_ layers? Care to tell what the _third_ part of your plan was?" Pyrrha questioned.

Ruby laughed an emotionless, yet maniacal laugh, "You'd like that wouldn't you? To be the great _hero_ everyone celebrates, huh?" She taunted, "You have no clue what to do unless it's an order from Oz."

"And _your_ organization is better?"

"At least _we_ know what we did to survive. I'll bet you have no idea what _your_ guys did."

Pyrrha paused, "Like what?"

"Weaponizing aura, and putting a soul into several machines." Ruby rattled off.

Pyrrha's eyes narrowed, "Those were things we needed to do to stop people like _you!_ "

"And the fact that they're responsible for Ruby _Rose_ losing her mother?" The young Fall retorted.

"You…" Pyrrha's eyes narrowed, "You're her, aren't you?"

Ruby's eyes dulled to grey, "That girl is _**dead!**_ And it's _Ironwood_ _ **and**_ _Ozpin's_ fault."

* * *

 _ **To be continued…**_

 **I fucked up. This chapter was supposed to come out after chapter 21, and I fucked up.**

 **Ruby Rose is dead. In her place is Ruby Fall, and- Okay, I had some difficulties with this because comedy and fluff is my strong point, not drama and angst. And I guess I lied last chapter, Summer** _ **didn't**_ **make an appearance.**

 _ **RWBY**_ **belongs to Monty Oum (God rest his soul) And Rooster Teeth. I own nothing.**


	23. The Blaze

_The day after spring is a day of great heat. The sun shall soar longer and the nights grow warmer. Fireflies flying in the night sky. It is a sight to behold._

 _But when it is abused. When the months before autumn are not paid back. These days are fleeting memories._

 _Summer burns back, and it's force cannot be stopped._

* * *

Summer looked on at Mountain Glenn, the tremors were coming more often.

"The wyvern is approaching its hatch time."

Summer's current objective was to have the beast under control and find a nesting area at Beacon Academy.

Maybe there were innocent people there, but they should've escaped by now.

The ones who fought for The Lucidum, on the other hand…

* * *

"Team BRCK has gotten onto the ship. They're pretty beaten up though. One of them kept muttering somethin' about 'coffee' or whatever."

"Same with Team ABRN." Another doctor reported, "There are a lot of guys like this. Teams just… Saying random things…"

The airship started rocking, "Sir! If we keep taking damage like this, we won't be able to take off!"

The pilot scowled, "Fine. Let's go."

* * *

Cinder's blades clashed with Ozpin's cane, "You can't win this battle Ozpin. The truth will eventually emerge, and then you and Ironwood will be revealed to be the monsters you are!"

Ozpin narrowed his eyes, "And _your_ army hasn't committed anything that could label _you_ as monsters?"

"At least _we_ own up to what _we_ do. What does Ironwood do?" Cinder answered her own question, "Oh, that's right, he writes it off as 'a miscalculation', or 'a glitch'." She sneered, "He _definitely_ has the moral high ground over us." She sarcastically retorted.

"And what has _your_ side admitted to?"

"The reveal that we drew the grimm here." Cinder answered, blocking the third strike that came from ozpin's weapon.

"No, all you said was 'Heads up: The grimm are coming', and then you ran off to try to shoot an arrow to my head." Ozpin snarked.

"Still better than taking one of my closest friends and killing her over and over again to harvest auras!" Cinder countered.

Ozpin's eyes widened, "We never did such a thing!"

" _LIAR!_ " Cinder yelled, swinging her swords towards her opponent's head.

Ozpin brushed off the sight of Cinder shedding tears as a mere illusion.

* * *

"The Wyvern nest."

Summer had arrived at the base of Mountain Glenn, and there were grimm everywhere.

They were restless.

"Don't you worry," She cooed to a Death Stalker, "The big guy will be out soon."

Stepping into the abandoned mine shaft, she treked through the darkness, a torch being her only source of light.

"We may fall, but not like this. It won't be by _his_ hand…"

* * *

"Alright. The only ones remaining in the city are our guys, and Jimmy's puppets."

Mercury nodded, "Alright."

Emerald turned back to the console in front of her, "This is Green Gem calling Barbed Dragon, what's your status?"

"This is Barbed Dragon, and I'm-" a crash was heard on the other line "NO! I'm going to have to call you back, Green. A certain viking just stabbed Shadow in the leg."

Emerald's eyebrow rose in surprise, "I thought Valkyrie had a warhammer."

"She used the debris to stab her. She's going to pay for that."

"Alright. Well, I gotta check in on the others. You know the rendezvous point, right?"

" _Yeah yeah. I know it I just-" *CRASH* "Alright, that's it! I will crush your bones!"_

"I see Long is doing alright." Mercury snarked.

Emerald rolled her eyes, "Just check on Ice Queen and Hardy. I'll get some confirmation from Rubes."

"Why do they get codenames, but Red gets to use her real name?"

"Because shut up."

"Rubes, you there? Are you okay?"

No answer.

"Ruby?"

Still nothing.

Emerald started panicking, "Oh my Oum, if she dies, Cinder will be-"

"She'll be _what,_ Emerald?" Ruby came in from the other line.

'Oh thank goodness.' Emerald let herself breathe. "Nothing Ruby. Just… Glad that you're alright." Emerald said.

"Tch, can't get rid of me _that_ easily." Ruby sarcastically said.

"I wasn't trying to." Emerald replied confusingly.

"Talking to Invincible Girl, Em. I can't- Wait! She's using her semblance on some electric dust! She's making an-"

Static was all Emerald heard, "Ruby? _Ruby?_ " She shouted into the mic, "Shit, Nikos made an E.M.P to cut off our communications."

"Crap. We gotta get there and help out Rubes. Her weapon is going to take some time to reboot after an emp." Mercury noted, steering the airship towards her location.

* * *

Team SSSN were striking at the Heavy Zepol Mech with all of their might, the constant clanging of bullets and energy shots constantly filling the air.

"This thing's a tank. No wonder Atlas wants to make a crapton more of these!"

"You got that right Neptune," Sage replied, "First chance we get, we get an infiltration team to destroy the schematics." His sword cutting up a nearby vehicle so the mech couldn't assimilate it.

"I called for backup a while ago, when is it getting here?" Sun angrily asked.

"Now." Adam Taurus stepped forward to combat the mechanized monstrosity. "This isn't too different from some of the other mechs I've had to deal with, go recover. I'll handle this."

Team SSSN hastily retreated to a safe spot. before Sun turned to get to the location, he turned to Adam, "As much as I want to see your abusive ass get crushed by that thing…"

Adam turned to the monkey faunus, "I can't make up for that." He reflected, "But what I _can_ do is make the word that she would have wanted…" he solemnly finished.

Sun stood there, silent for a moment. "Good luck Adam. I'll tell your story to those who'll listen." He finally said.

"Let history decide my fate then." Adam replied, "And let history know my true face." He took off his mask to reveal bloodshot eyes that were once blue, and several cuts on his face along with a nose that clearly didn't heal properly after being broken. "I can at the very least buy you some time to recover." The machine started walking towards them as it had finally found sufficient mechanical parts to replace its legs.

"Wukong."

"What?"

"If I don't make it out alive, you're the leader of the White Fang." He turned to the blonde and flashed him a smirk, "You'll need this mask." He handed it to him.

"And if they think I stole it?"

"There's a recording in it. It'll tell them that you are my replacement." Adam replied.

Sun looked astonished as he noticed the mech staggering towards them, "Good luck man."

Adam nodded, "Likewise."

Sun caught up to the rest of his team, "What was that about?"

Sun looked to Scarlet, "Get some rest, I have an idea."

"I can give that Adam guy some cover. Hit the missiles from here." Neptune reported from his perch point.

"Do it. I'll be back soon."

* * *

"The wyvern egg!" Summer exclaimed, "It's _gone!_ "

"Correct, Summer Rose." The woman turned to see Ironwood walking up to her, "The oh-so _secret weapon_ of the Noctis has been destroyed. What are you going to do now?"

" _Keep moving forward._ " Summer replied, her cloak morphing into a warhammer.

"Tch, as will I." Ironwood responded, brandishing his weapon as well.

* * *

 **Summer Rose vs. James Ironwood! Who will win? Who will lose? Well, you won't find out, nor will you actually get to vote, because I write these a few chapters in advance.**

 **Any fight that hasn't started here will be finished next chapter.**

 **Disclaimer: Much like anyone else on this site, I have no ownership of RWBY, or any characters associated with it.**


	24. The Time of Shadows

_Broken sparks of despair fell to the lands. One butterfly of hope flies to the skies. Who will catch it? Who will hide? Who will survive?_

* * *

Blake had Jaune pinned down, and disarmed.

"Argh! You… Won't get away with this!"

Blake rolled her eyes, "And you would know this, how?

Jaune struggled a bit more, "You… Just… Won't!" He ground out.

Blake scoffed at his rebuttal, "You sound like an angry dusttube commenter with that remark. Now, be a good little pawn of Ozpin's, and let me slit your throat!"

Jaune struggled to focus his aura on his throat, as Blake's blade made contact, she was bounced back several feet from the knight.

"Can't take me down that easily." He smirked, readying his hands for combat.

"Tch," Blake growled, "Without your weapon, you're easy pickings." She eyed the floor, "And did you _really_ think I wouldn't have a backup plan on the off chance that you'd escape?"

"What are you talking about?" Jaune asked, as both he and Blake circled each other.

"The most interesting thing about this classroom," Blake continued, readying an arrow, "Is that there is a water tank right above it."

"And?"

"There's a lake's worth of water in there." She finished, shooting an explosive arrow at the ceiling.

Jaune scowled at the faunus, "I thought cats hated water."

"Common misconception. Tigers hunt in water, so why can't other cats do the same?" Blake asked before jumping to higher ground.

 _BOOM!_

The water came crashing down, and knocked Jaune unconscious. Blake smirked, "All too easy."

"Ahem."

Blake turned to see Lie Ren holding Weiss by her hair. The Ghost Whisperer was knocked out.

"A fair trade then, I presume." Her eyes narrowed.

"You presume correctly." Ren stared back.

Blake and Ren rushed to their respective comrades, "Tch, tell your 'fearless leader' that next time, he _won't_ be so lucky."she glared as they passed each other.

"Tell the same thing to your white-haired friend." Ren stated as he passed her.

"Let's get you out of here."

* * *

Both Yang and Nora were forced to retreat. A water main had burst open, causing the two to get washed away to different locations.

 _"Mistress Yang! Are you okay?"_

"I am fine, Shadow," She grumbled "Where did she go…?"

 _"I believe she also got swept away by the water."_ Shadow replied, getting back into Yang's shadow.

"Tch, what the hell is taking so long for the wyvern to show up?"

 _"I do not know…"_

"Let's go check it out. It _should've_ hatched by now." She wondered out loud.

* * *

"GAH!"

Ruby was knocked back from Pyrrha, both combatants having taken a good amount of damage to their aura. However, Ruby's had been depleted to the red.

"Give it up, Ruby Fall! Surrender now, and maybe we can unearth Ruby Rose from that corrupted mind of yours!"

Ruby scoffed at Pyrrha's ultimatum, "I told you…" she panted, " _That_ girl is _DEAD_!" She raised what was left of Rending Thorn towards her opponent, who stopped the attack with little effort.

"So be it…" Pyrrha lamented, "I'll make it quick and painless then." She raised Miló, ready to quickly pierce Ruby's heart.

 _I'm sorry mom…_

A tear rolled down her cheek as she thought of Cinder. She remembered her face being scared when she had called her 'queen'. _Heh, I guess she wanted to be called 'mom'…_

"Any last words?" Pyrrha's voice shook Ruby out of her thoughts.

"Yeah…" The red girl spat, "Go fuck yourself!"

"Rude…" Pyrrha muttered, "Well, that'll be on your epithet, I hope you're alright with that."

Ruby's strength was failing her. Her vision was blurring, and she could barely stand.

"Rest in peace, Ruby. Maybe you'll find your mother in the afterlife…" Pyrrha offered.

"GET AWAY FROM HER!"

Pyrrha turned to see a green-haired girl drop-kicking her to a nearby pillar. She also noticed the silver-haired boy that Yang fought grabbing Ruby and running off. "I thought you would have left her behind."

Emerald rolled her eyes, "Who do you think we are, Ironwood?" She snarled.

Pyrrha snarled right back, "Ironwood's a _hero_. He would _never_ abandon someone to save his own skin!"

"Clearly you haven't met Coco's father. Not that you _can_ anymore." She muttered the last part under her breath.

"I'll take you _all_ down! All five of you!"

Emerald smirked as Pyrrha's mind succumbed to her semblance. Pyrrha now thought that she was facing five Emerald copies, and started to slash at them.

"Like you did with that Polendina girl? I'd like to not be turned into quarters thank you very much." 'Emerald' taunted.

"That wasn't me!" Pyrrha screamed, shooting another mirage.

"It sure looked like you." another taunted.

"SHUT _UP!_ " Pyrrha's suit started to glow a bit.

"Testy aren't we?" The real one snarked.

" _QUIET!_ " Pyrrha's semblance released a powerful magnetic wave, attracting several metal parts of Rending Thorn towards Emerald, who had moved out of the way.

* * *

 _SLASH!_

Raven's blade and Qrow's blade connected in a large range of sparks. The pure power of Qrow's blade being countered by the sheer sharpness of Raven's sword was placing both at a stalemate.

It was said that Raven's blade was so sharp, it could tear holes in dimensions, while Qrow's blade could bend space when used in it's scythe configuration.

Raven used her blade to open a portal to punch Qrow from behind, and into her blade.

"Augh!" Qrow's aura hadn't fully recovered, and his sister's aura, while having taken the same damage, wasn't handicapped by a previous encounter.

"I still can't believe you'd side with _Ironwood_ of all people." Raven taunted.

Qrow was panting, "At… At least I tried to look for Ruby and Yang! What did you do? Conspire with these radicals?" He countered.

Raven raised an eyebrow, "Thought you'd call them 'terrorists', but whatever. As for Ruby and Yang…"

* * *

"Squirt, are you alright?"

Mercury had Ruby in the medical bed of the recently commandeered airship, he was doing his best to get her back on her feet. She had taken quite a bit of damage. Considering that she was almost bleeding out, this wasn't going to be good. Cinder would have their heads if-

"Wait, Cinder!" Mercury rushed towards the communications equipment and started to call for the woman.

"Cinder! Cinder are you there?"

"Boss! Seriously, come in!"

"Please don't tell me Ozpin took you down!"

"I am here Mercury. Ozpin escaped." she responded, " _The coward…_ "

 _"What was so urgent that you had to call me on all frequencies?"_

"It's Ruby! She's hurt bad and-"

" _I'll be right there!_ " She cut him off quickly.

* * *

"You can't win James. The last time you killed me ended with nearly all of your men being slaughtered." Summer taunted.

"And you won't win either. The Noctis' secret weapon is gone! You have no hope!" Ironwood countered.

"We have backup plan for this sort of thing." The undead hooded girl replied, "Besides, we don't have to win."

"What?"

"We just have to make sure you lose!" She grinned maniacally.

"What do you mean by that?"

"Does the ORF ring a bell?"

Ironwood's eyes widened in shock, "No! It would cause panic to spread!"

"And to think you ignored Raven's brother's advice…" She taunted further.

"How… How?"

"How'd I know that?" She asked for him, "One does not simply reside in a laboratory for a decade and a half without finding out some things."

James was knocked back by his opponent's cannon. The _Thorn's Blaze_ , as it was called, was a weapon of might and destruction. Combined with her tenacity and agility, she was a difficult opponent to face one-on-one.

"Tch," Ironwood grunted, "I will make sure that you will be locked up to the point where you wouldn't even be able to _dream_ of escape."

"And how are you going to make sure that I won't just leave you here?"

Ironwood pulled out a detonator, "Simple."

 _BOOM!_

* * *

 _BOOM!_

"What the hell was that?"

"I don't know Merc. I don't know."

 _"Mercury! Emerald! Open the hatch, NOW!"_

The two turned towards the door to see it melting, and-

Cinder entered the airship, "Nevermind. _Where's Ruby?_ "

* * *

 _BOOM!_

Blake was carrying Weiss towards team CFVY's airship when she heard the explosion, "What in the world?"

Weiss stirred a bit in her arms, "Figure it out later. Gotta move." She told herself.

* * *

 _BOOM!_

Jaune was barely conscious when the detonation happened, "Ugh…"

Ren placed a hand on him, "Easy buddy, easy…"

Nora burst through the hatch, "Did you _hear_ that?"

"Hear it? I _felt_ it."

* * *

 _BOOM!_

The Branwen siblings were shaken away from each other by the blast.

"What the hell?"

"What was that?"

The two stared each other down intensely, before backing away.

"We'll meet again, brother. Just don't expect any mercy!" Raven said as she stepped into a portal she had created.

"And I'll be waiting…" Qrow murmured, "Now what _was_ that?"

* * *

 _BOOM!_

Pyrrha was making her way back to Ozpin's office when the blast caused a landslide that blocked the entrance.

"Ozpin's smart. He wouldn't have lost to that bitch…" She reasoned.

She noticed an old laptop nearby the rubble, and decided to pick it up.

"Maybe there'll be some clues to where Ozpin went to if I grab this." She figured.

* * *

"Sealing off the exit, huh?" Summer observed.

Ironwood smirked, "Only _one_ of us is making it out alive, Miss Rose. And I can still call in my flashbeam to snipe you right about…" He was cut off as Summer held up his communication device and crushed it.

"You were saying?"

Ironwood wasn't perturbed, he revealed his mechanical arm and pressed a button. Suddenly the mechanical parts of his artificial arm started to morph, and formed a suit of armor around him.

"Alright, warm-up's over."

* * *

 **It's been awhile, huh? Good thing I write these in advance for such a contingency then, eh?**

 **I'm doing my best to make Ozpin's group and Cinder's group morally ambiguous while making Ironwood the 'bad guy.' Is it working?**

 **Eh, whatever. Coming up next: Yang and Summer vs. Ironwood.**


	25. The Time of Light

_The shadow is cast by the light. Removing the light will make the shadow grow, but what happens when you place more light to shrink the shadow?_

 _The light has tried, but try as you might, one light will give out, allowing the shadow to grow again._

* * *

"ARGH!"

Cinder was doing her best to perform an aura transfer so as to save Ruby's life. The process is a long, and arduous one, and is extremely painful to the donor.

The only reason Cinder could muster even the _slightest_ smile on her face, was the fact that natural aura transfers could only occur if the receiving party deeply trusted the donor, and if the donor was willing to sacrifice their life for the one who needed it and vice-versa.

Natural aura transfers were used to heal others, or as a ritual to establish trust. The ways to perform such a feat were thought to be lost to the ages, but Salem had ensured that they were only lost, not destroyed.

"Her vitals are improving, Cin." Emerald informed, "She'll be back on her feet, and slicing up hunters in no time."

"Damn! Cereal Box did a number on 'Thorn." Mercury muttered.

"Can you fix it?"

Mercury scoffed, "Please. I could repair a scythe that doubles as a high-impact sniper rifle with a couple paper clips and some string."

'Oddly specific', Cinder thought, as her aura was helping Ruby's to recover. "Just… Tell me when her own aura can…" She was exhausting what little aura she had left, and collapsed.

"CINDER!" "BOSS!"

Emerald rushed towards Ruby. With Ruby's condition still unstable, someone had to help. Mercury, on the other hand, had rushed to Cinder, intent on getting the woman back on her feet.

"T-Thank y-you Emerald…" Cinder had managed to say before falling unconscious.

"No problem." Emerald replied just as her boss had been taken by exhaustion. "She's basically my little sister, anyways." She finished, having completed the aura transfer.

* * *

Pyrrha managed to walk on the airship, despite her injuries, and exhausting her energy fighting off the mirages Emerald had conjured, she could still move rather quickly.

" _Jaune!"_ She rushed to her partner's side as he struggled to sit up right.

"Hey Pyrrha. How was your fight? And what's that?" He pointed to the laptop that his red-headed partner was holding.

Pyrrha was a bit exhausted, "I figured that we might be able to find Professor Ozpin with it."

Jaune's eyes widened, "He's _missing_?"

"Pyrrha doesn't look that great…" Nora noted, her voice lacking its usual jubilance.

"It was fine Nora. I'm just…" She sighed, "Tired. I'm so tired."

"You rest then. I can fly us out of here."

"Thanks Ren." Pyrrha gave the young man a rather weak thumbs up, "After we land, we'll have to check out what's on this thing."

* * *

Roman and Neo were piloting the airship when a transmission came in, "Yo! Torch guy, you there? I swear, if this is _another_ Atlas dude, I will-"

"I'm here, Bunny Lover. What do you want?" The thief asked with slight venom in his voice.

"Tch," Coco growled, "We have a list of casualties to give to your boss."

Roman furrowed his eyebrows, "Give me the numbers."

"Seventy-nine deaths, and two hundred sixteen injuries." Coco relayed.

"Death count."

"Twenty-two White Fang members - Adam included in that statistic," She added, "Thirty-two Noctis members-"

"Which means six teams died, huh?"

Coco sniffed a bit, "You're assuming that they were all on teams."

Roman's eyes widened a bit, "Oh damn. How many have survivor's guilt?"

"The ones who didn't die with their teammates." Coco sullenly replied.

Oh. " _Oh…_ Damn. How are they holding up?"

"Not that great. Three of those people killed themselves out of grief," Coco lamented, "Can't say I blame them. If one of them had been Velvet…"

"I understand kid." He looked over to Neo, "I understand."

* * *

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN _SHE'S NOT THERE?_ "

Raven was _furious_. Her daughter - Her _only_ daughter, was nowhere to be found.

"It's like I said, lady! Yang's missing!" Otto Duman, a male student - part of team FOIR - panicked. "We lost communications with her, Flynt and Neon told me to try and get in contact with her, and-'

"Who was the last person she talked to"

"IT WAS EMERALD AND MERCURY! JUST DON'T EAT ME!"

Very well, I'll go to them." She opened a portal to Emerald and Mercury's ship. "Oh, and I don't eat people. Now, I can't say the same about my daughter though…" She stepped through.

Otto turned to Ember Fiamma, the leader of Team FOIR, "She's… Joking, right?"

Ember shrugged.

* * *

Summer was unfortunate enough to take some major blows to her aura. She hadn't been able to recover it since her encounter with Qrow. And with Ironwood's armor using _her_ former unlimited stamina semblance enhancement unit. While her new adaptability semblance could make it so she couldn't be killed by conventional means, it wouldn't keep her from dying of exhaustion.

Several shots were just narrowly dodged

It also wouldn't protect her from being tortured.

"Are you ready to surrender yet?"

"Are _you?_ " Summer panted.

Ironwood chuckled, "Now why would _I_ have a reason to surrender?"

Summer braced herself on a small rock formation, "You…" She fell down a bit, "You will be exposed. One way, or another." She shot him a glare of her cold grey eyes before falling to her knees.

"Hmph" Ironwood scoffed, "Looks like your semblance wasn't as great as you thought it was. Pity that I have to kill you though, that semblance of yours could be put to good use protecting people."

Summer rolled her eyes, "Protecting people from _who?_ The Noctis, The Lucidum, or _you?_ " she spat.

"From themselves." Ironwood continued, "Humans and Faunus, they're flawed. They _need_ a leader. Someone who can lead them to peace and prosperity."

"And you think…" Summer panted, "That _enslaving_ them is going to do that?"

"These people want to fight. That is all they can do." Ironwood countered, "Under the new rule, they'll be coherent force that can conquer any foe in front of them. From the likes of Salem, to the creatures in the depths of space. Under this new rule, we will be successful!" He clenched his fist in determination.

Summer's ears perked up, "What the hell's that noise?"

"Hmm?" Ironwood turned towards the rocks blocking the entrance. Faint sounds of guns firing, and stones being crushed by a blunt weapon came from the other side. Small licks of fire seep through the cracks, as do small electrical surges and shreds of water and speckles of ice.

A faint noise was heard on the other side, '…here…' was barely audible from the other side.

Several screams of determination also came from the other side, along with a sickening sound of a skull being crushed. Blood seeped in through the cracks and mixed itself with the small puddle of water.

 _BANG!_

Several small rocks dislodged themselves from the area of the cave-in.

 _BAM!_

Several more rocks fell down.

 _BASH!_

Large licks of fire erupted from the other side as even more rocks fell down.

Both Ironwood's and Summer's eyes widened. Neither of them were sure if whatever - _whoever_ on the other side was friend or foe. It could be more Atlas army men, or some White Fang. It could be the Lucidum, or Noctis. It could be Grimm or Mechs.

 _SLAM!_

The rocks finally caved in. Revealing a new figure. One with eyes of red, and hair of hellfire.

"Mother?"

"Y… Yang?"

Ironwood used the dust to carefully put some distance between himself and the two women. With the rocks gone however… He pressed a button on his wrist.

"How…" Yang could not believe it. For so long, Summer Rose, one of the mightiest warriors to walk the planet, was thought to be dead. She blinked again, to ensure that she was not seeing an illusion, "What the fuck happened? Why didn't you come home?"

"Blame Ironwood now, I'll explain later." Summer summarized as she noticed that Ironwood also got his own backup. "Olive. Long time, no see." She glared.

"Miss Rose." Olive stated as she stared at her opponent, and activated her semblance: Size Manipulation. Olive tripled in size. "Prepare to be crushed under my boot!" She roared.

"Oh, I remember that one." Summer muttered, "got _that_ one after they launched me into the upper atmosphere inside a spiked coffin."

"Mom?" Yang said.

"Yes, sweetie?"

"After this, we're going to have a talk." Yang replied, summoning Shadow.

"Figures."

* * *

 **Well… We got something going on. Anyways, at the time of writing this, I am Job Hunting. Hopefully, I can get something good.**

 **Up next: Historical Exposition!**

 **Support me via p-a-t-r-e-o-n (CJ Slash X) to make getting these out a** _ **lot**_ **easier for me.**

 **Disclaimer: At the time of writing this, I have rented it out.**


	26. A look towards yesteryear

_The blades had clashed at each other. The warriors fought vigilantly, but ultimately, the keepers of the shadows were overwhelmed. The light had used the maidens' power to disrupt the balance._

 _Manipulated into thinking the grimm were monsters, the maidens slayed them. And others followed suit. Believing the maidens to be the ideal women to look up to and-_

* * *

"Enjoying yourself?"

Ruby snapped the book shut in surprise, "What the-"

"Relax child," Salem assured, "I am not here to hurt you. I merely wish to talk."

Ruby's eyes narrowed, "Why?"

"Because your Quee- I'm sorry, _mother_ is in the middle of saving your life." She replied slyly.

Ruby narrowed her eyes, "What do you know about her?"

Salem chuckled, "You don't know? Well, young one," She gestured to a pair of comfortable-looking chairs and moved towards them, "Why don't I tell a story? It's been a few years or so since I last had a sweet, young girl to tell stories to." She smiled the sweetest of smiles, one that looked unusual on someone typically described as a witch.

Ruby carefully sat down on one of the chairs, checking it for potential traps. Finding none, she made herself comfortable, and leaned back a little.

Salem sat down in the other chair as she snapped her fingers to make a fire light in a nearby fireplace that was just now visible thanks to the sudden luminescent flame.

Salem had a book in her hands, "Now, where is Cinder's chapter?" She asked herself, flipping through the table of contents, "Aha! Page one hundred-two-thousand two hundred sixteen!"

Ruby tentatively raised an eyebrow. The book looked like it was only about five hundred pages.

"Magic, my dear Ruby."

Ruby raised both eyebrows in surprise this time. Before she could ask any questions, however, Salem let out a playful chuckle. "Your mother wondered the same thing when she and I first met." The pale-skinned woman answered.

"Now, where were we?"

"Page one hundred and two-thousand two-sixteen." Ruby replied. Rule number four of combat: Remember the little things. It proved useful for Mercury when he needed to take down some bitch. Last anyone heard of her, she was in bed with some politician. Gal had a peanut allergy, and was a major embezzler. Now, they had nothing against the woman, but her embezzling was causing some major damage. Specifically, it was forcing some workers to get near her home, or base, or… It didn't matter now.

"Thank you." Salem replied, "You're rather polite for someone raised by Cindy."

Ruby raised an eyebrow while simultaneously lowering her other one into an aggressive look. "Be careful as to how you refer to my-"

"Sorry. I forgot that you weren't there for that incident. I will have to get Raven to tell it to you."

Ruby found herself having the need to shut up. She did not wish to anger the 'queen' of the Grimm.

"Now," Salem said, clearing her throat, "Let's get started…"

* * *

Pyrrha was busy working on the laptop, trying to figure out what file to look at. By the looks of it, there were several files on the hard drive.

Jaune walked back into the small room where Pyrrha was situated for her recovery, "Hey, Pyr. What's up?"

"I'm just trying to find anything that might lead us to the Headmaster." Pyrrha answered. Her eyes widened, and her mouth hung open.

"There's a series of video diaries here." She realized. She looked up at her partner, "Should I…?"

"Maybe we'll figure out what's going on." Jaune reasoned.

Pyrrha looked around the files, "Here's the first one."

 _Video File #1 Date: *#)!_

"It looks like it got a bit corrupted." Jaune noted.

An image of Ozpin that looked slightly younger than he did now flashed on screen. He appeared to be fiddling with the camera before he sat back and drank from his mug.

 _"Alright, I believe that this is now recording. At least I hope so."_ Ozpin fidgeted with his fingers a bit before clearing his throat, _"My name is Professor Ozpin."_ He paused before throwing his hands up in the air, _"Why did I say that? Anyone watching this probably already knows who I am."_

The feed ended, and Pyrrha looked at Jaune, almost as if she was asking if they should continue.

"I… We should get Ren and Nora in here."

* * *

 _Many many years ago…_

Cinder woke up to the sound of swords clashing. Living in a cave and trying to keep away from both the hostile grimm and Atlas military had proved difficult, but to preserve her personal freedoms, it was well worth it.

"What the hell?"

Wandering out of the cave, she saw a woman in red, with black hair waving in the wind, and another woman cloaked in white. They were fighting… Atlassian Androids?

The battle raged on, as the cloaked one somehow grew small thorns on her arms and managed to tear apart the androids. Perhaps her semblance, or perhaps some new weapon.

"Summer! Right flank!" The dark haired one called, using her sword to cut a tree down to crush several androids.

"Last time I checked, _I_ was leader!" The now-named Summer called back as her armbands started to glow a bright green. She threw several punches into the air, launching several… 'spikes' towards the androids.

'I… I should get back into the cave…' Cinder turned to head back into her hiding hole, and came face to face with an android. The inhuman face frightened her. It looked like some form of endo-skeleton, with wires and servos acting like veins.

Her scream caught the attention of Raven and Summer. The two of them had been sent to Atlas to assist is terminating several out of control androids from the Atlas military tech. The androids had a system of gears, pistons, and springs that made them extremely powerful.

The taller of the women rushed towards the android. Her blade penetrating the power source, and forcing the android to power down.

Raven knelt down to the girl's eye level, "Is everything alright sweetie?" she asked in a soothing voice.

"Y-yes…" Cinder replied shakily.

* * *

 _Log Date: *##_

Once again, Ozpin appeared on the monitor. His office looking as if it had just been remodeled.

 _"Found a new coffee place today."_ he took a sip from his mug, _"It has a pretty good brew, I'd highly recommend it to any coffee fans."_ he sighed, _"I guess I should talk about more relevant news, I suppose."_ He took a longer sip, and sighed.

 _"There was a small incursion of grimm at a small town nearby the coast today. The team that was sent there - Team MGTA - They…"_ Ozpin could not finish. He sighed heavily before continuing, _"I have made several mistakes in my life. Probably more than most people in their entire lives combined, but this…"_ he sighed for the third time and took a long sip from his mug, _"The war might be over, but that doesn't mean that the tensions are gone. The Color War was brutal, and one of the only things that we united against was the Grimm."_

Team JNPR looked at each other. The idea that Ozpin made mistakes during the war was difficult to process. After all, he was Professor Ozpin! He was supposed to be a teacher. A leader! A person that everyone could count on.

Perhaps this is what happens when one places their trust in one man who has the weight of the world upon them.

They get crushed by the extra weight.

* * *

Cinder, Raven and Summer kept moving through the forest. It was agreed that they all get to a safer place where they could contact some of their friends. Raven had to leave soon, as well. She had just recently found out that the operation worked.

She and Summer were going to have a daughter. Admittedly, it was also part of Taiyang's kid as well, but it did not matter.

Tai's only request was that he got to have a say in naming the baby, something that Raven and Summer were happy to oblige to. Hell, if this worked, then maybe the next kid they could have would be carried by Summer.

Cinder was using one of Summer's older weapons she made, a bow and arrow combination bo-staff. Summer had gone through many weapons during her tenure as a student at Beacon academy.

As of the moment, a weapon that could morph into various others was in the works.

The trio were busy working their way to a nearby village. Hopefully, there would be a place to rest there. Maybe even call the rest of team STRQ and tell them the good news.

* * *

 _Log Date: & £§_

Ozpin appeared on the screen. Though, this time he was wearing a strange shirt.

 _"My students got me this shirt for the graduation party this year."_ he explained, _"I believe it is supposed to be a 'chibi' character from some old video game that is popular among the students."_ he took a sip from his mug. _"It took me a while, but I finally got through many of the legends about Salem." he shuddered, "I never once thought that there could be as many horrific things done by a single person in my life."_

Pyrrha looked down. She remembered how nonchalant Yang was about the stories. 'What horrors has she seen to be able to shrug all of that off so easily?'

 _"It was **so** horrific in fact, that it was generally decided among the schools that anyone who could read through it and not be sent to therapy, has clearly seen enough to not have to worry about the literature course." _

_'Well… Maybe she just wanted the easy A… Or The difficult A, I guess - But, whatever.'_

A knock came from the video, causing Ozpin to sigh. _"I guess I will have to speak later. I have guests to attend to."_

* * *

Summer was sobbing. Raven's face was put on a wanted poster just days ago. She was on their favorite cliffside view.

They had a couple picnics here a few times. Summer had proposed here.

She soft chuckle left her lips. Raven had absolutely squawked when Summer showed her the ring. It had taken some time for it to become official, but they could now get married.

Tai was supposed to be the best man.

It was only a few days after Little Yang was born. Since the papers were not yet official, Yang was shackled with the last name of her father. Summer would still call the infant her ' baby birdie.'

Raven would never admit it, but she liked the endearing bird analogies that Summer made towards her.

"Is something wrong?"

Summer turned around to see Qrow right there, behind her. "It's just… nothing." she lied.

"Bullshit."

"Qrow!"

The male Branwen shook his head, "I know you, Sum. And I know my sister." He continued, "You miss her. I miss her too. But, the fact of the matter is, is that her face is now on wanted posters. I know that she was framed. You know she was framed. And Tai knows that she was framed. The best thing to do, is to do our best to clear her name. That's all we can do."

Summer sighed, and wiped a tear from her face. "Al-Alright." She sniffed, "Let's get back to the house. I'm sure Tai is having trouble with Yang already."

Qrow put his arm around Summer and softly moved her head towards his shoulder. "If you need to let it out, just remember that I'm here for ya."

Summer sniffed one last time, before uttering a small thanks.

* * *

 _Log Date: ¢º§∞_

Ozpin's office looked like someone had mistaken it for a battleground, and the Headmaster himself looked as if he hadn't slept in days, if not weeks.

"I must apologize for my appearance. Unfortunately, an earlier meeting today has compromised the office." he sighed, "I suppose I will have to pay the cleaning crew extra to help fix this mess"

Team JNPR looked at each other. Someone would have to be very powerful to give Professor Ozpin a run for his money, and thrash his office like that.

 _"Perhaps next year Beacon academy will get some fresh blood, that won't thrash my office as a practical joke. I know it was one of the graduating students. One of the faculty, Professor Ruoho, thinks it was Team RIVR. Others think it was Team DYLN. Hopefully, the next batch of students will be more manageable."_ he scoffed, _"Knowing my track record, they will probably be worse."_

The feed ended.

"There's one more file that's not completely corrupted." Pyrrha noted.

"Play it." Ren replied.

"Hey," Jaune protested, " _I'm_ the leader here… But yeah, we should probably play it."

* * *

Summer was with Cinder.

It was the anniversary of the day that the 'rosebird power couple' (As Qrow called it) rescued her from the Atlassian androids.

Raven was unable to attend. For the Fifth year, she could not attend.

The last time Summer saw her, she was severely hurt. Being on the run was difficult for her.

"I heard Ruby's turning five in about two months." Cinder mentioned. Cinder's birthday was only a month from now, in August. Ironically, it was the first day of Autumn that she was born. Ruby was born in September, on the sixth. But, she was named after the gemstone of Yang's birthday.

Summer only hummed in acknowledgement.

"I miss her too, Summer. Raven was like that 'cool older sister' that I never had." Cinder lamented. When she had first encountered the two of them, she hadn't unlocked her aura before the _event_ , so Raven had done it for her.

Before she was forced on the run.

Summer could only stare at the table they were sitting at. It had been years since they uncovered the facility that was creating the androids in the first place.

There was nobody there, but everything looked fresh.

Then everything happened so fast.

A robot - An android. One with an artificial A.I appeared in front of them. It attacked Summer, so Raven attacked back.

The A.I was experimental. And, as punishment for destroying an irreplaceable piece of equipment - On top of thrashing the facility - Raven was placed under arrest.

The entirety of Team STRQ protested. Even Cinder came forward to vouch for Raven but was promptly ignored.

The reports were clear, and since Raven had also thrashed the cameras, there wasn't any proof of what had truly happened.

"Those _bastards_ didn't even check to see if there was a security room…" Summer growled.

Cinder sighed. This was pretty common for Summer. "I know Summer. I know." She placed her hand on the cloaked woman's shoulder.

They sat like that for a while, until Summer finally spoke up.

"Cinder, I… I think _they_ might be after Ruby."

"Who?"

"I think we _both_ know _'who.'_ " Summer answered darkly.

"Right… What are we going to do about it?"

" _You_ aren't going to do anything. I'm going to stop them from taking her away."

Cinder blinked. "But Summer!"

"Cinder," Summer sighed, "If I don't make it… I want you to be there for Ruby." She placed a small device in Cinder's hand, "Show Tai this. They'll let you hide her away."

"S-Summer… I _can't-"_

Summer shed a tear, but still held a smile. " _Please_. For me?"

Cinder gripped the device tightly, as well as her eyes. "O-Okay…" she stuttered.

* * *

 _Log Date: ⁄££‡_

Ozpin appeared on the screen. He had a flask in his hand, and looked as if he had just seen his closest friend get killed right in front of him, and he didn't do anything.

 _"I… Summer Rose of Team STRQ died today…"_ he took another hard swing from his flask, _"Along with her two daughters, and teammate, Taiyang Xiao Long."_

Team JNPR looked towards each other. Seeing as how this seemed like the most recent file to date. Their eyes filled with sorrow. Having no parents wasn't anything new, but losing your children?

They couldn't even stomach the thought.

 _"Grau Schnee, alias Jacques Schnee was also found murdered as well. A bullet to the head, after having his aura depleted by strange circumstances. There was also a report that several inhabitants of the village in Menagre were killed by a training exercise being done by Atlas Military."_ he sighed, and looked to his flask, _"I may need something stronger later…"_

There was a brief slashing noise before the screen went black.

"What the hell? I thought this file was uncorrupted!" Jaune yelled.

"It was." Ren stated calmly, "But the recording was forcibly stopped before it was properly finished."

"Ren's right," Pyrrha agreed, "But maybe we can find out where he is by looking through the corrupted files." She suggested.

Jaune sighed, "Alright, we'll have to take shifts. We're going in for a landing, and we need the rest."

* * *

 **Goddamn, it felt good to get this one out.**

 **Oh right, this isn't _Aftermath_ , I can't exactly be quippy here.**

 **No notes this time. Just the disclaimer that I don't own RWBY, and I'll only ever have a shirt with the Vytal Festival logo on it as my only merch from the show. But you can fix that (And more!) By donating to my p-a-t-r-e-o-n as CJ Slash X. Donations three dollars or more will get a shoutout, and will be able to view chapters early, like this one. Though, if you're reading this on the , you probably didn't pay to see this, so I'm probably coming off as rambling.**

 **Dammit, I'm so used to being able to quip in the Author's Notes.**

 **DYLN - Dandelion.**


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